


A Cut Above The Rest

by LordFrieza



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst and Fluff and Smut, Cherryberry - Freeform, Dirty Talk, Dirty Thoughts, Discrimination, Doctor/Patient, Dystopia, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Masturbation, Medical Procedures, Mutual Pining, Near Death Experiences, Pining, Sans (Undertale)-centric, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Serious Injuries, Sinamonroll Blue, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underswap Alphys - Freeform, Underswap Muffet (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), Underswap Sans/Underfell Sans - Freeform, Underswap Undyne - Freeform, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, lewdberry, underswap Grillby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 23:44:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 71,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21418678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordFrieza/pseuds/LordFrieza
Summary: Stars, it was deafening.Until finally everything sped up, like someone had finally put batteries in the clock whose hand had been stuck in one singular position for far too long; it all whirred into motion once again. However, that blaring screeching sound was still very imminent he realized, and he could finally pinpoint where it was coming from.Himself.He was screaming.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), CherryBerry, Papyrus/Papyrus (Undertale), Sans & Sans (Undertale), Sans/Sans (Undertale), Sanscest - Relationship, Spicyhoney, Underswap Alphyne - Relationship, Underswap Papyrus/Underfell Papyrus, Underswap Sans/Underfell Sans
Comments: 33
Kudos: 44





	1. Difference

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so wow. I haven't written a fanfic in what? Like 5-6 years now? Geez I would have never guessed it would be an Undertale fanfic that's for sure. I actually am quite proud of this, but hoowee- nearly 8,000 in just the first chapter oh boy!
> 
> But hey it's sorta an introduction to everything so yeah.
> 
> I was pretty inspired by this fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11419917/chapters/25583907
> 
> It's a lovely story, and I just had to go along with the whole Blue caretaker thing after reading it!
> 
> Please check it out if you can!
> 
> Alright so here's the low down on how the names are gonna go with this fic.
> 
> I actually did alot of planning and research till I got them just right so-
> 
> UnderSwap Sans - Bluelmin Sans Light (Blue)  
UnderSwap Pap - Papelli Light (Papy/Paps, Stretch)  
UnderFell Sans - Redeye Sans Script (Red)  
UnderFell Pap - Papillon Script (Boss/Edge)
> 
> (All their names listed above are actual fonts lmao- I chose them one because they were so similar to Papyrus and well Sans is still technically Sans here but yeah, but also because the way the font looks reminded me of their individual characters)
> 
> UnderSwap Alphys - Alvrous (Alvy) /is an anagram of Valorous meaning brave/  
UnderSwap Undyne - Undihre (Dire) /is an anagram of Hirudin a medical secretion from leeches/  
UnderSwap Muffet - Muffby (took the by from grillby  
UnderSwap Grillby - Grillet (took the et from muffet)  
UnderSwap Asgore - Eslon /is an anagram of Lesson/
> 
> So yeah, enjoy!

Everyone he had inquired after the incident happened to reply with a similar response. Something along the lines of "It all happened so fast-" or "It was all such a blur-" or "I couldn't even tell what was going on-" and one especially memorable response that he could deeply agree with; "It was like a whirlwind, and honestly; I think it took a piece of me with it." Well, he could agree with the latter statement only partially. As for Sans, it had all immediately slowed down at first, like the world was suddenly in slow motion and he could see the trails of his own bated breath as his brother lay there before him. Still. Unmoving. Like the beat of his own soul in that very moment. His eyelights had begun darting every which way, trying to help his mind wrap around just what was happening. He could barely comprehend the sounds that were buzzing around him. Like that constant awful screeching sound. Stars, it was deafening. Until finally everything sped up, like someone had finally put batteries in the clock whose hand had been stuck in one singular position for far too long; it all whirred into motion once again. However, that blaring screeching sound was still very imminent he realized, and he could finally pinpoint where it was coming from. Himself.

He was screaming.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

"You know it's going to take a little while for them to get used to us, Papy." Sans stated softly, but with an air of vindication.

"Heh. 'A little while' my ass." His big brother, trailing slightly behind Sans, spoke up. Dubbed the nickname 'Papy' by most who knew him, as he had a particular love-hate relationship with his full name, Papelli. 'It makes me sound like some sorta pasta dish' he'd claimed a long while ago. His response to Sans came out snappy, teetering on almost venomous.

"Papy!!"

"I know. I know. I'm sorry, Blue. I just- I don't know. We've been on the surface well over a few months now, and I can't help but feel that we're just as trapped up here as we were down there. I mean- come on! I get that we're intervening into the 'human's domain' now, but does that really justify in them making every damn monster from the Underground having to be required to wear this shit!?" He gestured to a metal brace firmly clasped around his wrist.

Sans opened his mouth to interject, but his brother raised the slender right hand, in which the brace was adorned, to quickly silence him.

"Now, I know what you're gonna say. First: Language, and yeah sorry. That's my bad, I'm just- I don't know. Worked up, I guess. Second: I understand that the human's are weary of our magical capabilities, and these are to prevent from using large quantities of it to 'keep the peace'. But I don't think they understand that magic is a fundamental property of all monsters alike. Like the flesh and blood of a human, magic keeps us going. Keeps us alive. Yet, they clasp these bracelets on us to keep us in check like we're all some detestable group of villains." As he spoke, he shuffled his left hand around in the large pocket of his hoodie. He was really itching for a smoke, but refrained from pulling one out. Releasing a defeated sigh, he shook his head and continued. "I just- I don't know, Blue. I'm just so sick of the looks they give us sometimes. I know not all humans are bad, but hell- I just can't stand the way some of them see us. Ya know?" He had happened to quicken his pace as he ranted, and came to a stop about a half a foot in front of his shorter brother. He turned and looked down at him, awaiting his retort.

Sans let out a huff of air himself as he let his brother drone on. He couldn't deny a small part of him that did bubble up in the back of his mind that perhaps the way they were treated was a bit too harsh, but the larger more forbearing part of him took the forefront. The humans had a right to feel threatened by something in which they could never truly comprehend. Most beings tend to fear the unknown regardless of the situation. 

His eyelights faded in understanding at what his brother meant by the 'looks'. Though some humans did tend to look their way and nod politely, or even chance a rare smile that would make Sans feel light on his feet the remainder of the day after; the majority of the looks they would get from passing humans were anything but friendly. Some would hold a sinister glare if they even came a few inches too close for comfort, others would indignantly lift their noses at them if even a glance was tossed their way. Sometimes he could even feel the eyes boring into the back of his skull. They were filled with unbridled contempt, blatant accusations, and false assumptions. He could feel his soul drop significantly harder each time he managed to hold one of the harrowing scowls, having to tear away fearing his soul would drop straight out his ribcage. His entire demeanor had fallen at his brother's words, and his mouth at a slight frown when his brother turned towards him. However, he still had high hopes for the future relationship between monsters and humans. As difficult as the road towards peace between them was now, it could only get better, he had decided obstinately. He turned his head up to his brother, a small empathetic smile adorning his face.

"I-I… Yeah. I know what you mean, Papy. That's why I'm so insistent on trying to make a difference for how humans see Monsterkind. I want to try and become an officer of the law up here, like a Police Officer or something. Maybe once monsters are allowed to branch out into different fields that humans hold high respect for, they'll be able to hold high respect for us, too."

"Yeah. Emphasis on "allowed to"." Papy grunted, which in turn had him putting up both hands in a gesture of peace at the unamused look in which Sans had shot at him. He continued in defense towards his statement however. "Seriously though, Blue. They still haven't even allowed Monster kids to attend human schools, let alone attend colleges. Thank the gods Eslon got the permission to finally start working on that Monster Academy he always wanted to open. Our kids need education, too. I have no doubts you'd be an incredible asset to the law enforcement up here; I doubt the police they have now would even lift their finger to a conflict if Monsters were involved."

Blue bit down on his lower jaw in contemplation at his brother's words. His nickname had also come from his first name, Bluelmin, in which his brother declared to be 'too much of a mouthful' and 'not cute enough for his baby bro' much to his chagrin on the latter statement. And thus his name was shortened, and like his brother, most knew him by his nickname rather his full first name. 

What his brother had expressed was, again, very true. Even Monster children had yet the ability to access human schools, and Blue had a slight fear that even if he were allowed to go to school at some point, he would likely be limited for what he would be allowed to learn. It would probably be a long while until Monsters would be seen as equal enough to be trusted in acquiring the education to become policemen or lawyers. He winced at the last sentence, again, his words had a chord of truth in them. Blue's sockets closed lightly, despondency clear in his eyelights once they reopened. His dreams seemed all the more fleeting when his brother put the hard truths out on the table like that, but he refused to give in to a sense of hopelessness. He'd just have to find another method towards making a difference. With newfound encouragement, he rushed past his brother twirling around a few feet in front of him. He struck a powerful stance, hands on his hips and his chest puffed out.

"Well, even so, I refuse to have my hopes for change dampened. I'll find a different way to help pave the way for humans and monsters to be able to walk the same path."

Papy just shook his head, a small but loving smile gracing his lips at his brother's actions. He trudged up next to his brother, placing a gentle hand on the smaller ones shoulder. "Well, if anyone can do it, I know you can, bro." He replied lightly, but with all the honest belief one could possibly muster.

"Well, come on then, Papy! We gotta meet up with Dire and Alvy. I don't want us to be late!" With that he turned and began walking along with his brother, side by side now. "Um... hey, Papy?" Blue asked airily.

"Yeah, what's up, bro?" His brother quirked a brow ridge at his younger siblings change of tone.

"Could we maybe… go to that abandoned lot to watch the stars again tonight?"

Papy's sockets widened, but relaxed quickly after, an amused grin overtaking his face. "Of course we can, Blue. Hell, why don't we ask if Dire and Alvrous wanna come, too?"

"What? Really?! You mean it!? Promise!?" Blue bounced happily around his brother as they continued along the sidewalk. His eyes sparkling with unbridled excitement.

"Yeah, why not? Not like we're doing much the rest of the day anyway. Besides, might as well enjoy one of the truly good things about finally being up here after all." He shrugged nonchalantly, a slender finger coming up to scratch at his zygomatic arch bashfully at his brother's reaction.

"Yes!! Come on, Papy! I wanna go ask them now! Let's hurry!" Blue took hold of his brother's hoodie sleeve as he began to tug him along.

They were to meet Undihre and Alvrous at a nearby café, one that was more friendly towards serving monsters. Once Alvy had exclaimed 'Their Pains are the BOMB!' in which she was corrected by her girlfriend that they were indeed 'Paninis not Pains', it had been decided that since Blue and his brother had yet to try them, they all would meet up for the afternoon. 

Their meetup spot was the park entrance right by the café; Blue had been allowed to pick it and hoped to be able to get them all to walk through the park together before heading to the eating establishment. As Blue and his brother rounded the corner he could see his two friends waiting at the park gate across the way. His smile grew all the wider as he waved vigorously to them. 

"HEY, BLUE!" Alvrous nearly roared as she saw him waving from across the street. Undihre stood beside her shyly, offering a small wave of her own back towards the two skeleton brothers.

Just as Blue was ready to bolt across the road towards his friends in waiting, his brother's hand rested firmly on his shoulder again. He looked back questioningly, his eyelights following along as Papy pointed towards the streetlights. They were still green, and even with no one coming at the moment, his brother had grown ever the more careful now that they were on the surface. Blue nodded in understanding, and pushed the button labeled 'Wait' at the edge of the crosswalk. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, he watched a few cars zoom by, until finally the white walk sign lit up on the opposite side of the road. He began to dash across the painted white lines, but stopped to turn towards his brother again. His hand outstretched to hopefully interlock with his big brothers, so they could walk hand in hand.

Just as he was nearly facing Papy again, he heard a hysterical shriek come from him.

"SANS! WATCH OUT!"

Within those few seconds from hearing that overought cry from his brother, he had suddenly found himself pushed to the other side of the road. His hands had reached out instinctively to try and soften the impact as his body hit the curb. His mind buzzed. He began to register a sharp pain crawling up his spine from the impact; his eyelights hazy as they searched for his brother. They blacked out completely at the sound of a sickening crack.

"HOLY SHIT! PAPS! SANS! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" That was Alvy's voice. "HEY! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Or was it? He was having an incredibly difficult time wrapping his head around just what was going on. He tried to scramble to his feet, feeling someone's gentle caress on his humerus from behind. He tugged his arm out of their reach. What was that loud cracking sound? He cleared his head as best he could from the fog that seemed to placate itself within his skull. He had to find his brother. 

It's at that moment that time decided to stop for Blue. His eyelights hovered over a crumpled mass of bone and bright orange in the middle of the crosswalk before him. He felt his legs tremble as he looked over at Undihre who had run over from behind him, hastily struggling to stop the flow of an orangey substance that was leaking out from under the pile. Alvrous was halfway down the street, yelling at a black van that was nearly past the horizon now. Undihre was looking at him. Lips moving. What was she saying? Why couldn't he hear her? There was just a blaring ringing in his head. And a god awful screeching sound; that seemed far too close for comfort.

Alvrous was suddenly bounding back towards Undihre and the heap of clothes and bones. Her mouth moving frantically as well, but still Blue heard nothing. Her voice a mere hum amongst the persistent wail so prominent in his skull. Rough clawed hands were on him then, shaking him abruptly. 

"BLUE! STOP SCREAMING AND GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!" Alvy's voice was clearer now, most of the ringing that was muddling his skull finally clearing the way for her thunderous hollering. The unrelenting shrieking had begun to die down as well as Alvrous continued to jostle him about. He heard himself whimper as it finally stopped completely. He discerned then, that it had been coming from himself. That he indeed had been screaming without realizing it. There were tears streaming down his face.

"W-What-?" He managed to choke out, a harsh trail of coughs following afterwards. He had screamed himself hoarse.

"Your brothers been hit, Blue! A car came speeding down the lane and almost got you instead! Paps managed to push you outta the way in time, but…" She paused and her eyes flickered over to where her girlfriend lay beside the wrecked skeleton. "Listen! Dire's been calling out to get you to help her with trying to heal Paps. She can't do it alone, not while these braces are hindering the majority of our magic. I can't be of much help since I don't have a good grasp on healing magic like you two do."

A good gathering of onlookers happened to surround them forming a small crowd, at which Blue only realized now. The majority of them happened to be Monsters themselves, looking on with an aura of melancholy about them. Some humans had also gathered, a few gasping in shock and mumbling hushed words amongst themselves. Muffby, who happened to finally get hired as a waitress at the café in which they were supposed to head, had come running out to view what the commotion was as well. She stepped forward, her cell in one of her trembling hands tapping away at the dial pad. She looked up at Alvrous timidly, her eyes darting every now and then back to the heap that still lay crumpled in the street. She lent out her hand, holding her cell out for Alvrous to take.

"I got an emergency number from one of my coworkers, and it's ringing now. We need to try and get someone here to help before... before Papy starts…" Muffby suddenly was choking back tears, rendering her to cut her sentence off. Alvrous took the cell from her, gesturing to Blue to go to Undihre's side.

Blue stumbled numbly over to where Undihre was frantically rushing about the orange heap. A muted green glow emitting from her hands in an attempt to heal the mutilated form. Blue raised a shaking hand to his chest, in fear his soul would burst out his ribcage with how hard it was beating against it. He slowly shook his head as he grew closer, the state of his brother's spine twisting in such a nauseating position almost had him keeling over into a screaming, sobbing mess again. His darkened eyelights looked over at Undihre for instructions, for anything.

"Blue please g-get on his other side and try and muster u-up as much healing magic as you can. I-It isn't looking good. I can't seem to g-get the f-fluid to stop." Her voice was tinny, perturbed and ending in an almost whisper. Blue immediately went to his brother's side, summoning the healing magic and letting it overtake his form. He began trying to feed it into Papy, who still lay limp beneath him. Tears welled in his sockets as he was able to catch a glimpse of his face.

There was a large crack running down the left side of his skull, narrowly missing his eye and coming to a stop just below his cheekbone. His sockets were closed, mouth hanging open as his jaw was slightly offset. Why wasn't it working?! He tried to draw out more of his magic, but it was continuously obstructed. Undihre had torn off her coat and tightly wrapped Papy's twisted protruding bone, trying to stop the flow of sickly orange marrow streaming out from it. 

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! WELL, YOU CAN ALL GO TO FUCKING HELL THEN!" Alvrous had a sudden outburst behind them. She thrust the cell phone back into Muffby's quivering arms.

Muffby fumbled with her phone before holding it tightly against her chest, her eyes questioning and fearful. "What did they say? Are they comi-"

"No one's fucking coming." Alvy sharply cut her off. She began to storm over towards where Blue and Undihre were struggling with Papy's collapsed form.

Undihre's eyes snapped up then, searching her girlfriend's as she came towards them. "W-What do you m-mean 'no one's coming'?!" Her eyes searched Alvrous's face for any implication that what she said wasn't true. Someone had to be coming. Paps wouldn't last much longer if… if-

"You heard me. There's no hospital around here that'll take monster patients. They claim they don't understand our vast anatomy, or would even begin to know what's necessary to help. They said that we'll just have to work it out amongst ourselves." Alvrous offered flatly.

"NO!" Blue cried out, his voice breaking towards the end of the exclamation. His breathing had quickened as his eyelights shrunk to miniscule pinpricks once Alvy finished. "No! Someone has to help! Anyone! They can't- I can't- Papy is…!" Tears were streaming down his face again, but he shook his head bitterly at the ones dwelling in his sockets. He jumped to his feet, teetering on his toes as he became lightheaded at his own sudden motion. His eyelights scanned the crowd surrounding them, many of them had their eyes downcast or their hands covering their mouths, afflicted. "Please! Is anyone here a doctor, or… or anything!?" 

There were hushed whispers amongst a few of the mass, but many were shaking their heads solemnly. A few were even struggling back cries of their own at Blue's pleading wails. The few humans that had filtered into the crowd looked just as distraught, some even looking a jumbled mix of furious and on the verge of tears. Blue looked over each of their faces his hope fading more and more at every shake of the head; each downcast eye. His teeth snapped tightly as he fell to his knees beside his brother again. His eyelights roaming over his magic dampened hoodie, cracked face and mangled spine. He shook his head violently. "No… no no no NO NO NO!" A hurried chant of no's tumbled from his mouth as he continued to try and break through the blocker on his magic. He summoned forth a vast amount of magic, trying to push it through to his brother, but only having it wind up recoiling in on himself as it was forced back. 

Alvrous's clawed hands were on him again as she realized he was near depleting his magic reserves with the amount of magic he was trying to emanate. "Stop it, Blue! That isn't going to work, dammit! You're just gonna wind up hurting yourself, too!"

"I DON'T CARE! I have to! I have to help, Papy! He can't… I need to do something… anything! He's not gonna- hic- gonna-" The waterworks had begun once more, his words becoming incoherent as he collapsed next to the taller skeleton. His arms covering the heap gently, but in requisite desperation. "Please Papy… don't leave me! This isn't fair!"

Undihre clamped one hand over her mouth to try and quell her quivering lips; her eyes blinking away tears as she still let the green magic glow from her other hand. Alvrous was nearly tearing at her face with her claws in exasperation. She wanted to do something to help, but there was no way she could help heal. She tried to bring forth even a wisp of the green, but to no avail. Instead she, too, knelt down by the crumpled skeleton.

"We were gonna watch the stars with everyone! You promised! Please! You can't- You just can't-!" He croaked out, his voice a mere dying wail at this point. "I love you! Please, Papy!" Blue droned on, his voice losing all the strength it had finally regained from when he had previously strained it.

"MOVE! MOVE IT! LET ME THROUGH!" A strained voice cut through the saddened hum of the crowd, in which had dissipated only a little, that still surrounded them. A slender woman pushed through the majority of the wall of Monsters and humans, breaking through to the center. Her sharp viridescent eyes scanned over the mess in the center of the street. She clambered towards them, her hands reaching out towards the still leaking bones. "You! You're his brother, right? Help me lay him out flat! We can't have him crumpled in on himself like that! I need to see what sort of damage was done to his bone structure!" She pushed herself to squeeze next to a baffled Alvrous as she looked over the smaller skeleton by her left.

"I-I- Y-Yes, I'm his brother…" Blue managed to gasp out through his seemingly never ending flow of tears. He immediately began to help the stranger in pulling his brother's arms away from his chest, allowing her to spread him out on his back on the pavement. His orange hoodie was crumpled up, revealing the twist in his spine to be far worse than what Blue had initially thought. The orange sweatshirt also had a steadily growing dark stain spreading through it from what must be another break somewhere underneath it.

"ALRIGHT WAIT A FUCKING SECOND- who the hell are you?!" Alvrous got to her feet, staring the human down with a midst of curious suspicion. She felt tempted to push the woman off of Paps, but eschewed from it. Whatever she was doing did seem to make the magic that had been steadily leaking before cease a bit, but Alvrous still had her doubts. No one came out from the crowd before to help, so why would someone now?

"I'm Dr. Jaxy Liri. I'm the owner of a small clinic a few minutes from here. I happened to be driving down this way when I noticed the large gathering of people here. I only want to help." Alvrous studied the doctor's face as she spoke, her mouth drawn in a taut line. "Please." Her eyes scanned the doctor's visage looking for ill intent, but found none. After she came to the conclusion that the woman could be trusted, she nodded her head in acknowledgement.

The doctor trailed her small hands over the skeleton's lanky frame, checking every crack, divot and twist. She inhaled deeply at the sight of his spine, biting roughly on her lower lip as she eyed the stain on the hoodie scrunched up over his ribs. "He has severe debilitating damage along his spinal cord. It seems like he may also have a serious fracture-dislocation along his lumbar spine."

"W-Would you perhaps have an oximeter, or something to monitor his v-vitals? With the st-state he is in right now I think it would benefit if w-we could get an electrocardio diagram of his soul. I've b-been trying to apply pressure on his arm here where th-there is a-another larger f-fracture." Undihre managed to sputter out, her gaze meeting the human doctor's.

The doctor's eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded. "I do, but I would need to get him to my clinic. There I can try and set what I can in place without fear of furthering the injuries, as well." Her eyes darted up to Alvrous stern, but hope prominent within them. "If possible, would you be able to carry him over to my car?"

Blue's eyelights brightened greatly as he watched the doctor go to great lengths to try and help his brother. He looked over her small stature, his mouth agape as hope began emblazoning in his soul again. Alvrous nodded curtly, reaching down to gather Paps in her arms as best she could without ruining the doctor's efforts in stopping the marrow outpour. Dr. Liri led the way through the crowd, the beings still gathered, looking on with glimpses of hope as well. They separated allowing the group to rush through them and over to a compact navy sedan. She flung the backdoor open, letting Alvrous lay Paps gently over the leather seating. His body nearly took up the entire back row, but had just enough room left for one other person. The doctor's eyes fell to the smaller skeleton again. "I'm going to need you to sit in the back with him. Try and make sure he doesn't jostle around too much, alright? I can't take all of us, unfortunately." She had turned to Undihre at that point, offering the passenger's seat to her. "I'd like for you to come with me, as you seem to have a decent amount of knowledge on medical supplies and procedures." Undihre nodded and hastily climbed inside. Dr. Liri moved around the car over to the driver's side. She looked up to Alvrous. "I'm sorry but I won't be able to bring you right now. I need to get there as soon as possible, and I don't want to risk moving his spine too much to try and fit-"

"Don't worry about it. I'll catch up. If you couldn't tell, I take leg day pretty seriously. Just get him there safe, doc. And…" Alvrous allowed a gentle sharp grin overtake her features. "Just… thank you." She waved her claws sporadically at the woman then, ushering her through the driver's side door. "Now get going!"

Dr. Liri offered a smile of her own through the window after Alvrous slammed the driver's side door shut. Without another's second hesitation, she twisted her keys in the ignition, slamming her foot on the gas and making a sharp turn around from where she had parked on the side of the street. About just under three miles, and less than two minutes later, they arrived at the front of a small off-white healthcare facility. Dr. Liri pushed herself out the door, along with Undihre, both of them coming around to Blue's door to help usher him out as well. "Alright getting him out quick and painless is gonna be a hell of a lot harder than getting him in there, but I'll help as much as I can. You two go around onto that side and take his upper body into your arms." The doctor instructed, settling herself in the small space that Blue had managed to squeeze into.

They managed to heave his body out the door with minimal difficulty, Blue holding his brother by the shoulders nearly cradling them as Undihre clasped his femurs as gently but firmly as possible. Dr. Liri fumbled with the key to the front of the facility before finally pushing the doors open, holding them wide for the other two to hurry in with the tattered skeleton. The doctor then hopped forward in front of them again, steering them a bit of a ways until she finally stepped foot into her own designated room. She pointed to the inclined bed in the center where Paps's body was laid down carefully. 

Dr. Liri turned away from them, shoving some light blue non-latex gloves over her hands. "We're going to need to remove his sweatshirt if we're going to connect him to a vitals monitor or even chance at an EKG."

Blue bit his lower jaw as he nodded his head at the doctor's statement. He began to slowly but steadily lift his brother's arms, raising the sweatshirt up over his head and Undihre helped steady his still unconscious form. He gasped loudly at the state of his ribs, two of his lower ribs were very close to near breaking off completely and the rest seemed to have hairline cracks running through them, but what was far more worrying was the state of his soul. The bright orange was faint, and there was an evident crack running from the point almost cutting it in half. He failed to realize how quick his breathing became again, fresh tears threatening to spill again. What could they do? Oh stars, it was worse than he thought. So much worse.

"I'm not too sure how this'll work, but if you have knowledge on what this is, then you must have dealt with something similar. Let's get his vitals going." At this, Dr. Liri handed a few wires to Undihre that trailed along to a small box attached overhead. Undihre worked towards settling them gently inside his ribcage around his soul. The box suddenly had colorful lines going across with numbers that Blue couldn't quite understand. However a few were stuttering which he couldn't help but feel was not supposed to be happening. "Oh God. Alright I'm gonna start trying to push some of his bulging discs back into place. Once everything I can do right now is acutely in place, I may even be able to work on using some artificial discs for those too far ruptured." The doctor moved over the taller skeleton and got to work with adjusting his spinal column back to a slightly more normal form. She piped up at Undihre. "Um… miss? Would you mind unwrapping that arm of his? I wanna see what I'm dealing with there."

"Oh. M-My name i-is U-Undihre, m-ma'am." She stuttered in response. "Oh! O-of course!" She began to unwrap his humerus from her torn jacket. Her breathing hitching as she saw it in better light. Much like his lower left ribs, it was nearly broken off. 

Blue's eyes wandered over what the doctor was doing. The marrow spillage had stopped almost indefinitely after she had moved the discs somewhat back into place. His eyes then had travelled to Undihre as she unwrapped his upper arm, his eyelights shrinking slightly at the sight of it. Dr. Liri looked at him, his eyelights meeting her stare. "Don't worry. We'll do all that we can for him. Could you wheel that monitor over for me? I want to get him hooked up to the leads on it to trace his 'soul' if that's what you call it."

Blue's eyelights reverted back to almost normal, now with a deep determination in them at the doctor's statement. He moved to grab the monitor of which she had implied and wheeled it over. He held out the six cords that were attached to it. "Alright. What do you need me to do? I want to help, too." He said shakily, but with blooming newfound strength at the doctor's reassurance.

Dr. Liri nodded at finally getting the smaller skeleton to come back down to earth. Her mouth drew taut again as she moved over to assist Undihre with dealing with the shattered humerus. "Perfect. Take each of the ends of the leads and adjust them around the wires attached to the vitals monitor. If you need to place them on a few of the ribs surrounding his 'soul' that should work just fine."

Blue did as he was told, affixing them as close to his brother's soul as he felt he comfortably could. Undihre left the doctor's side, who happened to be wrapping the fracture anew and adjusting a makeshift cast over it, and went over to the machine once Blue had managed to place all the leads accordingly. "How- How is this-?" She muttered aloud, her eyes looking over the screen. "He's nowhere near stable as of yet. His soul's state is still worsening- I-I don't know what we-" Suddenly a loud beeping sound was coming from the monitor overhead, a very apparent red line seemed to be hiccupping at random intervals on the screen.

"Wh-Whats going on?!" Blue exclaimed, startled. His eyelights darted up to look at the line that at first had been bobbing and weaving steadily, which had grown to becoming slower, bumps raising in the middle of it only seldomly now.

"Oh! O-oh S-Stars! H-he's f-flat lining! W-We're losing h-him! Oh G-Gods! W-What d-do we d-do?!" Undihre's stuttering was becoming increasingly apparent as her own breathing began to quicken in dreadfulness. 

"WHAT!? No! No Papy!" Blue felt his legs give out beneath him as he buried his face in his brother's scapula. They finally got help! This couldn't happen now! He couldn't lose him now!

"Stop that attitude now, Undihre! You, too, kiddo! We haven't lost him yet, and I sure as hell ain't bent on losing him now. You guys were emitting some green glow earlier. It was faint, but you were trying to heal him right? I'm no scientist on the facts of Monsters, but there was a line of green running along that crack within his 'soul'. Your healing technique was keeping him at least a little stable, I think it was even trying to bring the two separating halves together again. So we're going all out with it." With that said, the doctor scurried over to a tall cabinet of sorts in the far corner of the room.

"W-wait! W-What do you m-mean? With these b-braces there's n-no p-possible way t-to bring f-forth enough magic to heal him in t-time! Besides we can't t-take them off even i-if we wanted to. One: It's t-technically illegal! All M-Monsters are r-required to wear these b-by l-law! And, T-Two: I've t-tried everything I-I can to try and g-get it o-off myself. N-Nothing works!" Undihre was standing in the middle of the room, looking for answers as to what the doctor had meant. It was true. She wasn't going to deny that she had tried to break the damn brace off before, the lack of magic was draining half the time and she had a scientific need to know what kind of materials it was made from. Unfortunately, every time she had attempted at removing the thing, all she could do was barely scratch or dent it. Nothing seemed to make it give even a little bit.

"Of course you wouldn't be able to break it. It's not a natural metal that can be found within the earth, let alone the Underground you came from. That's why they used it. It's a man-made material. Of which only humans currently have possession of." Dr. Liri had started to stalk back towards the bed once more, her hand clasping something tightly. "It's called Tungsten Carbide. It's a human alloy that comes from the strongest man-made metal known to humankind, and from what you've told me, Monsterkind as well. And from my experience the only way to break something so indestructible, is with something even more so." She held out her hand, showing a jagged piece of metal within it. "Pure unaltered Tungsten itself."

Undihre looked incredulously back and forth from the doctor, to the metal showcased in her palm, and to her own wrist in which the brace was firmly clasped. She shook her head suddenly, brows furrowing as she realized what the doctor meant to do. "You can't! I-If you were to go th-through with this, y-you would h-have to deal w-with dire consequences, too! We c-cant have s-someone who was s-so willing to help, p-putting their own l-life on the line l-like this!"

Blue's eyelights grew in understanding at what the doctor was getting at. He looked at his own brace, the beeping from the monitor an adamant sound blaring in his skull. Would it be okay? Breaking the law like this? It was one of the first laws that was decided upon their arrival to the surface. Something that had been dealt out without question. Blue hadn't even tried to wring himself free of the brace, seeing it as just a mere accessory that allowed to finally be able to breathe the fresh air and a chance to mingle with so many others. But… it truly was hindering him now. Stopping him from saving the single most important person in his life. He had never felt so conflicted at a mere object before. His head snapped up as the doctor's voice boomed over Undihre's.

"Doctors have to make drastic choices every goddamn day! I already said I refuse to lose this man, and I'm sticking by it! He's a patient of mine now, and in my 15 years of doing this profession I haven't lost a single soul to it! It sure as hell isn't happening now! Either I lose some credibility amongst the trash of my species, or we save an actual worthy life. And by God, I've already decided which path I'm taking!" She flitted over to where Blue had gotten to his feet again. She put out her free hand, her other gripping the piece of Tungsten tightly. "And I know you have, too, kiddo." Her voice softened significantly. She smiled.

Blue's sockets welled with tears again. He held out his wrist that was encased by the brace, nodding decisively as he met those green eyes a third time. The larger piece of metal came down on it and with a few clean hits to the same spot, the alloy brace fell to the tile floor. He felt a jolt of energy arise throughout himself he hadn't known was being so easily combated by the magic dampening brace. "Alright, kiddo. Get to work, yeah?" The doctor's smile broadened at Blue's increased vigor. Blue offered a watery smile back up to her as he finally could summon a greater amount of healing magic, feeding it through to his brother's soul. "Let's get at it, Dire. He can't do it alone." Dr. Liri turned towards Undihre, who held back tears of her own as she held out her own wrist. A smile quirking her lips at the familiar nickname used amongst her friends.

The two Monsters, now free from the braces, stood at either side of the bed, vibrant green encasing the taller lax form within it. The doctor had took hold of the unconscious skeleton's right hand, chipping away at the brace around his wrist as well, until finally it, too, fell apart on the bed sheets. Dr. Liri went to work at the scar along his skull then, cleaning it of crusted marrow with disinfectant and wrapping fresh bandages around it. Her eyes were watching over both monitors, as well as the soul encased in green. The beeping was beyond deafening, but in that moment, it almost seemed far away rather than surrounding them within the creamy white room. She went back to overlook his spine once more, and as she had stated before, began working on trying to replace some of the heavily ruptured discs with false ones in their place. 

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Finally, after what seemed like eons, the atrociously loud beeping coming from the monitor above settled into a more constant pattern. 

"H-he's stabilizing! The crack in his s-soul is c-closing up! Thank the G-Gods!" Undihre let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, as all signs of Paps's vitals were returning to normal. Blue's spine shook trying to withhold sobs of relief, still pumping as much healing magic as he could out through his hands.

Dr. Liri leaned back against the counter that was aligned with the wall, her hand covering her eyes as she sighed out heavily through her nose in a sense of relief as well. "Alright. His vitals are perfectly stable now. He's coming back around to us." She allowed her head to drop back, the back of it hitting a low cabinet behind her. "Holy shit."

At that moment, Blue clasped onto his brother's uninjured arm, his teeth clenched as he really didn't want a waterfall of tears to start again. Undihre had walked around to his side and gave him a hug from behind, Blue turning to reciprocate it face to face. "He's gonna be okay! Papy is- is-! Uwaaaah!" Blue's dam broke as Undihre had begun to squeeze him tightly in confirmation. Her own body now shaking with sobs of repose.

Dr. Liri looked back over the two rejoicing Monsters and tossed a genuinely adoring smile at the scene. She got up from her slouched position against the counter and went up beside Undihre once Blue had turned back to his brother's, now stable resting, form. "Hey, Dire? If you don't mind my calling you that. You do tend to have quite a bit of a grasp on the use of some of my medical supplies. Have you happened to work in the medical field before?" The doctor asked, honestly curious.

"I-I don't mind at all! It's a nickname commonly used b-by my friends a-anyhow. Oh! W-Well, not t-technically. I-I happened to work as the head scientist wh-whilst in the Underground. Wh-whatever happened to fall from the surface I was l-left to work with. Some of it indeed happened to be o-older or slightly defective m-medical supplies, though." Undihre wiped the remainder of the tears from her eyes as she spoke with Dr. Liri. "S-Since there wasn't a medical f-facility within the Underground, I was technically also m-more in tune with medicines and happened to w-work on my magic to steadily p-produce healing magic more prominently. I-I guess, in retrospect, you c-could say I was a doctor of sorts f-for the monsters when we were d-down there." She blushed heavily.

Dr. Liri nodded, her tongue darting out to lick her lips before she bit down on her lower in heavy consideration on what she wanted to say. "If I were to offer you training, would you care to learn more about medicine and medical procedures? It wouldn't have to be anything drastic, but…" Her eyes narrowed as she eyed a particularly fascinating spot on the wall, before finally coming back to meet Dire's eyes. "I would like you to come work for me."

Undihre looked at her in disbelief, even Blue popped his head up from where it had returned to resting on his brother's scapula. "B-But- M-Monsters aren't a-actually capable of taking up p-positions in h-hospitals! L-Let alone w-working as a d-doctor or c-caretaker themselves!"

Dr. Liri snorted at Undihre's claim. An amused grin on her face. "Yeah, yeah. I know all that. And I also know I just broke the law three times over breaking those braces off your wrists." She gestured to the broken metal on the floor. "I also know that there isn't a single medical facility within 100 miles of here that's even partial to the idea of taking in Monster patients." Her face turned serious again as she looked over the unconscious skeleton. "I can't stand that, ya know? It was one thing nearly taking away something as valuable and rudimentary like magic from all of you, but it's another thing entirely to discriminate the lot of you from necessities like hospitals and schooling. I'm understaffed as it is here anyways, and with as big as this building is, I want to try and do something. Anything to fix what the underlying rubbish part of my species has been doing to Monsters ever since you've arrived here." Her eyes fluttered closed. "I get that I'll be in deep shit with even having an idea like this, but to hell with it. As long as I promise to 'keep the peace', or whatever bullshit they spout, they won't be able to do much of anything about it. I'm just saying to give it some thought. I'd be glad to have you as a colleague here." Her eyes opened, meeting Undihre's still baffled gaze, and she offered a genuine smirk.

"I-I- W-Well-..." Undihre sputtered out flushing darker at Dr. Liri's final assertion, but just as she had finally found her words, the form on the bed began to stir. Blue's eyelights glowed brightly searching his brother's face as slowly, his eyelids began to open. Papy's eyes began to hazily look over the room, taking in where he was. Gods, his head was pounding. What the hell happened back there? First they were walking across the road to meet Dire and Alvrous, and suddenly the car- that's right! The car! Sans! Was he alright?! His brother! Where was his-

"P-Papy?" A quivering voice to his right called out to him. He cocked his head towards it, meeting the watery eyelights of his younger brother. As he finally met his little sibling's gaze, Blue's whole posture regained his old familiar exuberance. "Papy! You're okay! You're okay! Stars! N-Never do that to me again, brother! Never again!" He wrapped his arms around his brother's neck, new tears flowing over his cheekbones and falling into the soft, white pillow beneath his brother's head.

Paps's eyes narrowed in slight confusion, but happily allowed the loving hug from his brother. He tried to reciprocate, but only his left arm would lift freely. He could vaguely see that his other arm was wound tightly with bandages, and a cast? Damn, whatever happened after he had pushed Blue out of the way of that car really messed him up, huh? Blue tore away from him again. He smiled up at his little brother hovering over him. "Yeah. I'm okay now, and alright. Alright. Whatever happened, I promise it won't happen again, bro."

In that moment, Blue knew what kind of difference he wanted to make for Monster and Humankind.

Blue offered a bright smile then, his hands coming up to wipe at his wet sockets. He leant forward to press a soft skeleton kiss to his brother's forehead, over the white bandages. "Good! And I'm gonna make sure it never happens again." He turned from his brother, towards the two women that had been overlooking the heart lifting scene of the brothers. "Please, Dr. Liri. I-I would also like to maybe work here, too, so..." He took a step away from the bed as he looked up into the doctor's virescent eyes.

"Train me, too."


	2. Feral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "See? Ya shoulda listened to me, dollface. Look what you've gotten yourself into." He leaned his face right up near the smaller's own, their nasal bones nearly touching."Now, I gotta wring your perfect little neck till your pretty blue eyelights roll back into your skull."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty wow so already chapter 2! I'm gonna try and dish the chapters out as quickly as possible, but it'd be easier if I stopped writing them so damn long.
> 
> 6,000 words for this chapter alone, too. Dear lord.
> 
> Well anyways, I hope y'all enjoy!

Those were the events that ultimately led up to where Blue now stood, or well paced, outside the same clinic his brother had been saved in. He was adorned in light blue scrubs that had small shiny yellow stars embellished all over them. His brother had helped him pick them out. He had tried them on at a Monster friendly thrift shop not too far from home, and loved the way the little stars shone at different angles every which way he moved. His brother couldn't agree more. 'They look great, bro. Especially adorning the greatest star of all.' Papy had claimed, which had in turn earned the taller a giant hug along with a bunch of peppered skeletal kisses all along his cracked skull.

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"That's what? The eighth person already? He hasn't even been here a whole week yet! I don't know what we're gonna do, Dire." Dr. Liri sat at her desk, her foot tapping against the ground as she slid her hand down over her face in vexation. Undihre stood across from her, her lower lip being chewed on heavily as her boss sighed aloud.

"I-I know, ma'am." Came out her small squeak of a response, her face flushed brightly.

"It can't keep going on like this. Already everyone felt afflicted in going near him after- Who was it? That last incident a few days ago- She was a new hire, too. That bunny girl?" The doctor huffed, her chin in her palm, her elbow on the desk.

"Um… K-Kanin, Dr. Liri." Undihre answered.

"Right. Kanin. And what exactly happened with her again? You weren't too keen on telling me about it, I remember."

"She… Sh-She w-was bitten." Undihre closed her eyes tightly at the memory of it.

Dr. Liri's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull at Undihre's words, before she let out another long, defeated sigh. "Right. That's what it was." She shook her head, her hand going up to cover her eyes. God, was that a migraine coming on? After everything that had been going on within the past week, probably. "You know I'm not one to decline anyone help when they so desperately need it, but none of the rest of my staff are even willing to step near his room now. Let alone go in it."

Undihre nodded solemnly, her eyes downcast. She could understand. The patient was incredulously stubborn, showing clear signs of hostility and his mannerisms only seemed to worsen day by day. "I-I know, Dr. L-Liri. Even the newer caretakers in the M-Monster ward aren't too e-excited at the idea…"

"Listen, Dire. I'm not about to push him onto the streets or anything; I just can't afford to lose anymore staff members. I know I have a steadily increasing amount of Monsters who I'm overjoyed that want to come to my night classes, but it's not gonna make a good impression when they start that they all suddenly are becoming patients, too." Her forefinger and thumb pinched the bridge of her nose as she continued. "Patient 73 was already in a bad state as it was, but now he's becoming an increasingly bigger liability to my staff as well. I don't know who'd be willing to try and help him now after this."

Undihre cleared her throat as she approached the desk. "Well a-actually, we have someone s-starting today who I think may be j-just right for Patient 73." She muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Someone starting today…? I don't remember anyone-" A loud snap resounded from her neck as she looked up at Undihre from within her seat. "Are you out of your goddamn mind, Undihre?! He's not even supposed to be taking care of anyone the first week of hire, let alone someone as demanding as Patient 73! He BIT someone Dire, who knows what he could do to-"

Undihre raised a hand in a placating motion, before she interjected. "I-I know, Jaxy. I j-just… I just have this f-feeling, that he'll be able to r-reach out to him unlike anyone else. H-He's just like that, y-you know? No one else I-I've ever met has had half the tenacity or d-determination to keep g-going like he does. J-Just… please t-trust me on this…?" Her eyes looked down into her employers, pleading.

Dr. Liri ran a hand back through her long black hair, leaning her head back on the headrest, her eyes following some cracks on the eggshell colored ceiling overhead. "I don't think you're hearing yourself, Dire. Your request is so far out there, I couldn't even begin to agree to it." Undihre's face fell at her boss's tone, but followed her form as she straightened herself out in her chair again. "But then again, I'm pretty far out there myself. I mean, hell, look at me. I've started the first Human-Monster Health facility against the majority of all those little scared pussies out there that are still so adamantly against it." Undihre's face started to brighten as Dr. Liri went on. "Also, who am I to go against a former scientist? Your theories so far have had yet to disappoint." Her eyes finally met the Fish Monster's. "Just promise me that you'll keep your eye on them, alright?"

Undihre nodded briskly, bowing slightly in thanks to her boss. "Y-Yes! O-Of course, D-Dr. Liri! Th-Thank you!"

The doctor waved her thanks away, a small smile breaking over her features. It fell a bit as she spoke again. "Also, if I find out that he has even ONE complaint about being assigned as caretaker to 73, then you're getting a boot up the ass. Got it?" Undihre let out a soft chuckle, scratching the back of her head as she nodded, blushing hard. "Alright. Well, you got some news to go deliver now, dontcha? Hop to it then, girly."

"Th-Thank you, J-Jaxy! You won't r-regret this!" Undihre bowed once again, before bolting from the room back towards the Monster ward.

"I hope not, Dire. I sure hope not." The doctor slumped back in her chair, reluctantly returning back to signing permits for the new Monster hires.

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He was impatiently pacing in front of the double doors to the clinic, waiting for just the right time to bound through them. It was his first day starting here after all. Well, not technically first. After he had asked Dr. Liri to train him, she had agreed after seeing great potential in how well he managed to catch on to things so quickly. From then on, she began holding nightly sessions at her humble little condominium, which, surprisingly, only happened to be a block away from the apartment complex in which Papy and he were currently staying. The Monsters had been offered a monthly sum of money in helping them coalesce with humankind. This particular apartment had caught the skeletons eyes, with how cheap it was priced in accordance to others. Scraping the bottom of the barrel of their savings each month, they managed to somehow keep living there. It certainly wasn't in the best of conditions, and wasn't notably efficient with the plaster coming off in chunks from the ceiling and the busted kitchen sink, in which Blue had to use the bathroom sink whenever the dishes needed to be done. But it was home, nevertheless.

Along with going to the nightly learning conclaves, he also stopped by the clinic every weekend for his brother's physical therapy sessions as well. Dr. Liri had insisted that Blue continue to bring his older brother to her clinic, rather than have the little skeleton running about in their tiny apartment trying to help him on his own. She had given Papy a spare wheelchair, as with how destructive the hit to his lumbar spine was, she had stated it would take nearly 8-10 weeks before he would be healed enough to even try to walk. His brother had hated that part the most. The fact that Blue was out, working day and night on learning a profession to further get income for the two of them as well as to follow his dreams in helping Monsterkind coexist with humans, he sat at home brooding in his debilitated state. 'I'm the older brother. I should be the one supporting you, bro. Not the other way around.' He had told Blue one Saturday evening after therapy had finished. Blue had only shook his head, a smile adorning his face that was full of love and adoration. 'It's about time I return the favor for all that you did for us when I was a babybones. Besides, you can help me by focusing on resting and healing till you're up on your feet again!' He ended the conversation with a gentle hug to his big brother, before tucking himself under the covers in his bed. Papy wheeling himself closer to finish the night off with his favorite bedtime story.

Once he had surmised that pacing for 5 minutes straight was a bit much even with how excited he was to start the day, he took in a deep breath, and pushed open the double doors. He was to work primarily on the third floor, which had been turned into a ward mostly for Monsters, but humans still happened to take up some of the rooms if there weren't any free, and vice versa for the Monsters with the second floor. He let his feet skid a bit over the white and green tiles of the hall as he made his way to the two elevators in the middle of the facility. He pushed the button, and stepped inside the large metal box once the doors slowly slid open. Pressing the button labeled '3', the doors closed shut and up he went. His sockets sparkled with small stars growing apparent in his eyelights. At the resounding ding, the elevator doors opened again and he hurried out, his feet nearly dancing across the floor on his way to a door on his right.

He knocked briskly, before a muffled 'Come in!' was announced, he slowly turned the handle and opened the door. Inching himself into the little cramped office, he took a seat at the one lone chair across from the quaint desk at which sat one of his good friends. Undihre offered a smile to her little skeleton buddy, and now coworker. "Wowzers, Dire! It's so cool that Dr. Liri made you the head of the Monster Ward! I'm so excited I get to work with you!" Blue exclaimed, buzzing in his seat, which had Undihre giggling to herself.

"S-Same here, B-Blue!" She cleared her throat as she clasped her hands together, resting them on her desk. Her eyes met Blue's, and for a moment they just held each other's gaze, chuckling amongst themselves. Undihre coughed into her hand, before clasping them again as she finally continued. "Alright, so I kn-know Jaxy- er- Dr. Liri had explained at y-your last session that you weren't going to start a-actually interacting with the patients too much t-till later…" She paused, gulping hard.

"Oh, I know! I'm going to just be helping with the cleaning, and with distributing the lunches, right? That's okay! I'm still so excited that I get to help, even if only a little!" Blue countered brightly, his head cocked to one side as Undihre coughed into her hand again. "Um… Are you okay, Dire?"

Undihre nodded abruptly then, standing suddenly, and twirling around. Her back now towards Blue, she scratched the back of her neck with one hand as she held out her other. "Y-Yes, but well I-I had talked with D-Dr. Liri earlier and w-we have a new patient that's been a bit t-troublesome. So c-currently no one is w-willing to be their caretaker…" The hand at the back of her neck fell as she pivoted around, looking down at Blue. "N-Now if you h-have any problem with it, I can g-gladly find someone e-else, since he has been pretty p-problematic and I don't want to put you in a d-difficult situation…" She went over to a small file cabinet, ruffling through some folders, before finally pulling a sheet out from one of them. "B-But I know you, B-Blue. Y-You're one of th-the most headstrong Monsters I know, a-and I just feel l-like if anyone can placate this Monster, well…" She placed the sheet on her desk as she took a seat again. "It w-would be you. So, D-Dr. Liri and I would like to assign you to P-Patient 73. If you're willing." She smiled lightly as she pushed the sheet towards Blue.

If Blue's eyelights could grow any brighter, they did in that moment. He nearly jumped from his seat at the news of being trusted enough to be assigned to someone so early. "Of course I'm willing! No matter who they are, I'm sure I'll be able to help them!" He grabbed at the sheet that Dire had pushed over to him, overlooking it carefully.

Patient Number: 73

Room Number: 348

Name: Redeye Sans Script

Sex: Male

Age: 25

Species: Monster 

Race: Skeleton

Family: Papillon Script (Younger Brother)

Address: Currently taking up residence at a nondescript apartment complex between Chancery and Union Street

Emergency Contacts: Papillon Script (029) 366 7438

Reason Admitted: Attempted suicide leading to heavy magic loss. His younger brother was the one who had called in to have him admitted.

Physical Aberrations: Several cuts on both wrists; a few deep cuts along the metacarpals on his left hand. Some deep gashes and chips along his ulna and radii. Further examination of his structure is unavailable due to increasingly aggressive actions from the patient.

Mental Aberrations: Sharp tongue. Clear signs of discontent at being brought to the clinic. Very hostile behavior towards both Monster and Human caretakers.

Form of Action: A few weeks of observation, with intervals of small interventions in hopes of diminishing the patient's mentality regarding self harm and suicidal thoughts. We have yet to set a rudimentary caretaker. Eight have already either been injured in a scuffle with said patient, or have begged to have their patient changed. 

Blue's eyes softened as he read over the patient sheet carefully, his soul wrenching at the thought that someone would be so desperate to try and end their own life. Undihre's demeanor had fallen as she saw Blue's excitement drop after reading through the information sheet. "I-I understand if after you've r-read all that, th-that maybe you'd rather n-not-"

"When am I allowed to go see him?" Blue cut her off, his eyelights still fixated on the sheet, his brow ridges furrowed slightly.

"Want t-to- wait... W-What?"

Blue looked up at her then, a smile, not as large as the one he had worn when he had come in, but still very apparent on his face. "When am I allowed to meet him? I'd like to try and get to know my patient more personally so I can begin to try and help him in any way I can."

Undihre swallowed, her mouth falling open for a few seconds, before she shook the majority of her disbelief off. "O-Oh! Right, u-um… well honestly you c-could head down there now, but I d-don't know if that-" She started strongly, but her voice began to trail off when Blue jumped up from his seat, startling her into silence.

"Perfect!" He placed a hand on his hip, the other tightly grasping the patient sheet. He held his head up high, as his eyelights sparkled again. A strong resolve shining from within them. "Thank you, Dr. Dire! I'm going to go meet this-" He glanced at the sheet quickly, before retaining his stance. "Mr. Redeye Script right away!" With that, he turned and nearly threw himself out her office door. Undihre could only blink blankly as she watched him go.

He walked along the halls, looking at the small numbered plates on the side of each door. "345, 346, 347… Wait, shouldn't it be right here?" He narrowed his sockets as he looked down at the sheet in his hands once again. "Okay, maybe it's back there somewhere?" As he was about to turn and head back from where he had come, he noticed a door at the very end, tucked away in the corner of the hallway on its own. 348. Ah, so this was it. Weird for it to be all the way by it's lonesome down here though. Blue folded the patient paper and tucked it into his breast pocket. His eye sockets closed gently as he took a deep breath, before finally turning the handle and pushing open the light oakwood door.

Oh great. Were they back for more already? He eyed the door handle attached to the door to his room with mild curiosity as it began to downturn. Well no worries. He sure as hell could dish out more, as much as they wanted until they finally gave in and let him fucking leave this place. His red eyelights watched as the door slowly opened, revealing a small skeleton monster adorned in light blue. His sockets widened. Oh, so what now? They were gonna try and fight fire with fire by bringing in his 'own kind' or somethin'? Well, alrighty then. Game on. Besides, this little skelly looked cute. Real cute. A red tongue glided over his sharp teeth as the little blue skeleton furthered himself into the room, turning to close the door behind him. It couldn't hurt to have some fun with the little guy, right?

"Well, hey there, dollface." The red eyed skeleton spoke, gruffly. His eyelights looking over the blue skeleton slowly, taking in his form. "Didn't think they'd actually take me up on my offer to have some 'fun' while being stuck in this fucking prison." His tongue darted out as he saw the smaller skeleton flush, a light blue dusting the others cheeks. Oh yeah, this was gonna be fun. At least, for how little it was gonna last anyways. He managed to scare off the last little shit in under five minutes. He had a record to break, and a little skelly, too, at that. "Or no, wait- Let me guess. You're the pretty little angel they've finally brought in to inject me with whatever lethal shit you put dogs down with nowadays." His chest shook as he let out a rumbling laugh. His mouth holding a wide sharky grin.

Blue took in his patient's physical form. He was strapped to an inclined cot, almost sitting completely upright. He was still practically fully clothed in a red sweater and black shorts, which Blue had anticipated after reading that the rest of the clinic couldn't get him to undress any further from his information sheet. He was probably about a foot and a half taller than blue, and his stature far more broad. His eyelights were a bright crimson, and his mouth- Oh wowzers. His mouth was lined with sharp white teeth, and a single gold tooth glinted in the harsh light of the room. Most of this skeletons form consisted of sharp features, his eyelights looked over his clawed hands in particular. He flushed slightly at the pet name Redeye labeled him with. Flushing further when he rumbled out a crude remark. Blue gulped, his head cocking as he continued to listen to his patient. His sockets widened as the larger skeleton began to laugh at his final dark comment. Blue cleared his throat as he stepped further into the room towards the cot. "Um, no... actually. I've actually been assigned as your personal caretaker for the duration of your stay here at our clinic." He offered a bashful smile to his patient.

The red skeleton cocked a brow ridge as the little skelly spoke up. His voice was soft, a much higher pitch than his own, but he was right in labeling them as an angel before. His eyelights held such innocence and hope, it was nearly sickening. It made him want to break him all the more. "Ah shit. Well, too bad for us, but that's gonna be a pretty short while, babydoll." He offered a snark grin at the little skelly's questioning stare. "Ah, come on, you can't possibly tell me they let you in here without telling you what I've fucking done, right?" 

Blue piped up at that, nodding his head. "I have been advised of, your erm… recent behavior. However, I'm sure you had your reasons as to why you reacted the way you did." Blue spoke with an air of finality. "Besides, I'm not like the other caretakers you've had."

The red one's sharp-toothed grin widened at the little skeleton's words. "Huh. Really now? Well even so- it's only a matter of time before I fucking starve to death anyways. So, sorry dollface, but it's inevitable really." He let out a deep laugh again, his sockets narrowing slightly at the blue skelly.

Blue's sockets widened at Redeye's riposte. What did he mean by that? They weren't actually starving him right? Well no wonder he would've lashed out! "What do you mean? You haven't eaten at all?" Blue asked, concern clear in his voice as he let himself move closer to the larger skeleton.

The red skeleton rolled his eyelights as he smirked, watching carefully as the blue skelly grew closer. "That's what I was getting at, yeah." He snorted, his eyelights darting to the right wall. "Last time they had tried to feed me something solid was a little over three days ago. They've only been seldomly giving me various liquids. Even that's been fucking lessening now." He laughed again.

Blue's brow ridges furrowed deeply, a frown taking place of the small smile that had adorned his face previously. How could they treat a patient like that? He shook his head disparagingly. He was going to have to pull Undihre aside later to talk. "How long is it?"

"Huh?"

"How long is it?" Blue asked again.

The red skeleton smirked. "Wow. Usually don't get asked that on the first date, but hell if ya wanna know so badly you could always check yourself." He winked down at the little skeleton.

Blue flushed heavily at his patient's vulgar reply, shaking his head. "N-No, I-I meant- How long is the time allocation between meals for you? Or well, liquids in this case…"

The larger skeleton chuckled at the smaller's reaction. He shrugged. "I don't know. The first day it was about 4 hours between, but today they haven't given me shit. Not that I can fucking blame 'em though."

Blue's jaw dropped. He hadn't gotten anything at all today? And he couldn't blame them? He had every right to! "That's unacceptable! How could they treat a patient like that!?" 

The red skeleton shifted in his seat, his sockets narrowed again. "Huh. Thought so. They didn't tell you all the fucking details, did they?" He offered a large toothy grin again, moving his face out towards the smaller skelly. "Of course no one would want to try and fucking deal with me, let alone try and put anything near my mouth again." He sat back, barking out a dark laugh. "Cause then I might just bite their fingers off, too."

Blue's head snapped up, meeting the Redeye's gaze. His head cocked again in question. "What do you mean by that?"

Red leaned forwards again, as far as he could with the restraints trapping him to the bed. "I meant exactly what I fucking said, babydoll. That I'd bite their fingers off, too." His head turned to the right slightly, as he tossed the little skelly a malicious smile. "Oh, that's right. Ya don't know, do ya? Yeah last time that little bunny bitch tried to feed me, I latched so tight onto her fucking fingers, she screamed herself hoarse." He laughed again, if he was unrestrained he'd be doubling over with how powerful they shook his form.

Blue's eyelights shrunk a bit at Redeye's declaration. He had bitten someone? Now that he thought it over, the patient sheet did say that some caretakers had received injuries. He didn't think they would be along the lines of getting their fingers nearly bit off. "W-Why? Why would you do something like that?" Blue asked, demandingly, stomping a foot on the floor.

The large skeleton's eyelights darkened at the smaller's tone. "Why!? I'll fucking tell you why!" His voice rose, his form shaking the cot as he strained against the straps holding him in place. "If they wanna tie me up like I'm some fucking feral beast, then I'm gonna act like a fucking feral beast!" His eyelights nearly blacked out as he bellowed.

Blue stumbled back a bit at his patient's outroar, his sockets widening as his eyelights shrank to pinpricks. They slowly came back, as finally what Redeye had screamed settled in his skull. He was tied up against his will. No wonder he felt the need to lash out at everything and everyone. He was feeling trapped. Very much indeed like a wild animal. "If I were to take off some of your restraints… Maybe the one's around your wrists, would that conciliate you a bit?" Blue asked once the red skeleton's heavy breathing began to calm down a bit more.

Red eyelights searched blue ones as he met the smaller's gaze again. He let out a small breathy laugh, a smirk taking over his features again at the little skelly's foolish question. "I don't think ya heard me right, sweet cheeks." His eyelights had reverted back to their normal crimson, but shrank a bit in size. "I nearly bit that little bunny's fingers off. Ya know damn well I could probably do it to you, too." His sockets narrowed significantly. "I mean, damn, I'm pretty sure I'd really fucking enjoy having your pretty little bones between my teeth." He let his tongue lick out over his teeth again as he eyed the little skelly down.

Blue flushed brightly at his patient's, once again, crude behaviour, but decidedly ignored it. He walked closer to the cot, nearly standing right before his patient. They were at the same height at this point, with Blue standing and Redeye seated. The realization was a bit intimidating to Blue, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The Magnificent Blue had made it all this way, and this was HIS patient he was assigned to! He would do everything in his power to help them, no matter how brash or dirty their words and behavior tended to be. He gulped as he approached them further, now just a few inches from the edge of the cot, where the larger one's feet were tied to opposite ends of it. "I only want to help you, in any way that I can. If you're feeling trapped in these restraints, then it's my job to relieve you of them." His brow ridges furrowed again, a determined look on his face.

The red skeleton cocked his head as the little one approached, sockets widening at his statements. "I mean, I'd love if you helped me relieve myself, dollface." He winked again, adjusting himself on the cot once more. "But I really don't think you get it. Just how thick is that skull of yours, sugar?" He leaned forward, his face now a mere foot away from the other's. "I could hurt ya, ya know? I could fuck you up real badly." He eyed the smaller skeleton's hands as they started moving towards the cot. "You honestly should think this over, sweet cheeks. I won't hesitate to fucking rip your pretty little head off those slender shoulders of yours." He gave a sharky smirk towards the little skelly, sockets narrowing to mere slits.

Blue's face was nearly glowing a bright blue at the extremely suggestive remarks coming from the larger skeleton. He tossed a glance up into the other's narrowed eyes. "You really have no filter, do you?" He asked softly before reaching out towards the strap tightly pinning down Redeye's right wrist.

"Aww, what fucking makes ya say that, babydoll?" He offered with an air of sarcasm, but dipped in an everlying coat of indecency. He was really starting to like the little skelly's face all flushed like that. His eyelights watched as the blue skeleton's hands got to work on stripping him of the leather strap restraining his right arm.

Blue closed his eyes as he huffed out a small sigh at the sarcastic quirk. His blush seemingly permanent with the never-ending onslaught of titillating comments and pet names. He was finally able to free the larger skeleton's wrist from the restraint, letting the strap fall onto the bed. He moved onto the other wrist. "Hm. Honestly, when you put it that way, I'm not so sure myself." He added, his own retort dripping with sarcasm as well.

Red barked a few laughs at the smaller's sarcastic response. He held his newly freed hand still as the little skelly worked at the other strap on his left. His eyelights watching the little one's serious, but still smiling, face. Aw shit, he might actually miss this one. Well, that's what he gets for getting attached already. Once the blue skelly's attempts at freeing his other wrist of the leather succeeded, he had tried to move back from the larger skeleton.

But clawed hands were around his neck in an instant.

Blue's sockets widened comically as he felt Redeye's rough grip tightening around his neck. Breathing was slowly becoming harder. Although lungs weren't apparent inside skeleton Monsters, oxygen was still used and filtered through their bones to help keep his marrow oxidized. This did tend to allow skeletons to be able to last much longer if their source of air became reduced. However, if cut off from oxygen for too long, the magic flowing through their marrow would begin to congest. Blue sputtered trying to find his voice, but Redeye cut him off.

"See? Ya shoulda listened to me, dollface. Look what you've gotten yourself into." He leaned his face right up near the smaller's own, their nasal bones nearly touching. "Now, I gotta wring your perfect little neck till your pretty blue eyelights roll back into your skull." He breathed airily, eyelights softening as the little skelly used his hands to grasp at the larger anywhere for purchase. 

Blue gently latched onto the other skeleton's humeri, as the larger's grip steadily tightened. Blue's breathing hitched as Redeye began pulling him closer, nearly on top of him in the cot now. His slowly growing hazy eyelights looked over the ceiling in search of something.

"Aw, what's the matter, sweetheart? Where's that fighting spirit?" He asked, a sickeningly sweet tone erupting from that gravelly voice. He tightened his grip more. What the hell? Usually they fought back by now. Okay, just up the ante then. He shook the blue skelly a bit, his phalanges digging into the vertebrae on the smaller's neck as he strengthened his grip on it. Still, the little skelly remained almost frustratingly calm; his grip on the larger skeleton had begun to slowly weaken. "Come on! The hell's wrong with you?! Fucking fight back, dammit!"

Blue's eyelights finally landed on what he was looking for, barely discerning what Redeye was droning on about. He summoned a small blue attack, piercing it through something in the far corner of the room. The red skeleton shot his glare over towards the sound, watching as a trail of smoke lifted from the now busted camera on the ceiling.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

Undihre had been watching the majority of when Blue had walked into Redeye's room. Everything actually seemed to be going well. Almost 7 minutes in and no screams of pain or terror emanating down the hall. She was right. Blue was the perfect candidate. No one could combat his bright hopeful gaze, and super cute smile.

She left the camera on as she got up to go and join Dr. Liri out on break, cracking her neck as she rolled it around her shoulders. With one more glance she made sure that the two skeletons seemed to be on relatively good terms, at least in accordance to the last eight that had stalked in there and almost immediately ran out. She grabbed her jacket and headed out of her office.

About 10 minutes later, Dr. Liri had to get back to some papers so they had cut their break short. Undihre opened the door to her office again. Placing down her steaming coffee on the desk, she walked around and bent over to look at what was going on in room 348. Blue was awfully close to Patient 73 now. Nearly on top of him for that matter. She blushed hard, her eyes lifting from the screen as she brought a hand up to cover her face, an eye peeking through as it continued to dart to the footage on the screen every so often. Well, who was she to abash a potential new ship? She couldn't deny that she hadn't thought about how cute the two skeletons would look together, even before she requested Blue to be his caretaker.

A sudden movement on the screen caught her eye again. She removed the hand blocking the majority of her vision, and leaned in closer towards the computer. Wait. Just what was going on? Blue still sat stop the larger skeleton, but something just felt off about his position now. Oh, there it was again. Blue was… shaking? Undihre's face was nearly against her computer screen now. But why would Blue be-

Her eyes snapped wide as she saw the claws around her friends neck. Blue must have taken off his restraints. He was being choked. Suddenly the camera footage cut off completely. "O-Oh dear Gods! B-Blue!" She jumped up away from the computer, stumbling backwards, and tripping over a protruding wheel sticking out from her swivel chair. Her feet gave way beneath her as her head fell back, hitting a low shelf on the wall. It came tumbling down over her as she scrabbled for purchase. Gripping onto her desk, her head pounded, but she had to help Blue! What was she thinking? She had been so completely and utterly wrong. She had placed her hopes in one of the most gentle creatures on the planet in trying to help placate probably one of the worst. Now he was paying the price for it. Dear Gods! She had to get help! 

What had she done?!

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"What the fuck?! The fuck was that!?" His eyelights shrank and darkened substantially as he realized the small skeleton had one hand raised, covered in a faint, wispy blue magic. He must have broken the damn thing. "So you CAN use fucking magic!" He shook the smaller's form again, grip tightening evermore. "So why won't you fucking fight me off?!"

Blue's head began to snap back and forth, lolling about as Redeye shook him about. His sockets were half lidded, as his mouth was open a bit trying to take in any amount of air with every gasp he could manage. His eyelights were clouded; becoming unfocused. He strained to try and follow the red skeleton's utterance. He just shook his head weakly towards the other. Wowzers, he was getting tired.

The larger skeleton's eyelights were blown out in disbelief at the blue one's lack of a struggle. "I'm fucking strangling the life out of ya! I'm this close to having your fucking dust sprinkling over my claws!" The red skeleton roared, his breath quickening as he continued to hold his vice grip on the blue skelly. "So come on! Why won't you fucking fight back already!?"

There were sporadic spots dotting the dark vignette that had began to quickly enclose around his vision. He could barely force any breath through the unyielding grip on him. He managed to glide his eyelights over in his sockets, to meet the fierce gaze of the red ones trailing over his face. "I-I… w-won't fight m-my…" He coughed hard as the red skeletons grip refused to let up. "Potential…" Ugh, speaking suddenly seemed like such a strenuous task. "F-Friend…"

Blue couldn't hold the gaze on the other much longer, choosing to just collapse limply over him instead. He could scarcely make out just how the claws had lessened their hold on him as he choked out that last word. His eyelights were barely visible now, his vision near completely blacking out. He heard the resounding slam of a door promptly opening behind him. 

His eyelids fluttered closed as he allowed the darkness to swallow him completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a slow burn (and it still is) but then we got Red over here being the cocky little bastard he is.
> 
> Ah my beautiful Blue baby boi, what have you gotten yourself into?


	3. Shallow Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I want to remove the rest of his restraints." Blue interjected.
> 
> Undihre froze. Her head slowly pivoting back up, until her bewildered face met Blue's stringent one. "I-I… Y-You what?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. So this one is LONGER THAN THE LAST TWO  
Nearly 10,000 words!!!
> 
> AGHH WHY CAN'T I WRITE SHORTER CHAPTERS
> 
> WHYYYYY????
> 
> Also it's still a slow burn...  
I swear...  
*sweats*
> 
> [Also for a little insight here's a song that kind of helped me with the title for this one](https://youtu.be/nmfAiWI54Rg)

The noise surrounding him was a very undesired presence as his eyelids began to flitter open. He felt like someone had been slamming a sledgehammer repeatedly against the side of his skull, as he tried to make out… words? Who was talking? For some reason or other, as the constant throbbing in his skull worsened from a flicker of light that managed to reach his eyelights, he found himself caring less and less what exactly was being said. He shut his eyelids again at the sliver of harsh illumination that had welcomed his sockets; trying to succumb to that wonderful darkness he had awoken from.

"-m so s-sorry, Paps!" Someone was speaking with… his brother? And they were… sorry? Apparently. What for though? His face twitched as he came to realize that as hard as he tried, he just couldn't find a way to crawl back into that comforting and encompassing blackness again. He was insistent on keeping his eyelids shut though. He was not ready to deal with the bright light boring into his eyelights again. At least not with his skull still feeling like it was being hammered into oblivion.

"Dire, it's fine. I get it. He tends to overwork himself all the time anyways. Especially as of late since, well, you know my situation. He's been going non-stop since my accident; pushing himself more and more. As long as he's okay, then it's all good." His brother's voice. Oh, so the other voice was Undihre's then. He had a distinct notion that the person they were speaking about was none other than himself, but he couldn't quite discern why. He hadn't overworked himself, and of course he was okay. Just what was going on? His brow ridges creased slightly, before his face fell lax again. No, it was too much effort to try and physically embody his emotions right now. He remained focused on listening in instead.

"No! It's n-not alright! It was his f-first day! I'm the one p-primarily in charge of him at the c-clinic, and th-then suddenly he's blacking out l-like that and I-"

"Dire. I already said it's okay. We don't need you passing out, too, now do we? You mind just carrying him in here? The position he's in right now isn't looking too comfortable, and I doubt it's comfortable for you either." He heard the familiar sound of creaks over the floorboards coupled with the sound of wheels over synthetic hardwood. His brother must be moving now. His body was adjusted, and he realized he was being carried. He had been the entire time. His head bobbed softly against whoever was carrying him as their steps jostled his body gently about.

"We can set him down in here. He's probably feeling exhausted. I know once he's up he's gonna be running about like a madman again." His brother piped up once again as the sound of wheels and his courier, whom he deduced was Undihre, had stopped. "He looks so peaceful right now. Lately, even after tucking him in bed, he's just been looking so 'bone-tired'. I really wish he'd just take a minute and relax for once."

"He's a-always so f-full of energy, and b-brimming with cheerfulness, so there's no wonder h-he'd be exhausted at the end of the d-day." Undihre offered softly. He felt himself being placed down carefully, his body conforming to the far more comforting surface immediately.

"Yeah, I know." His brother spoke, his voice drowning in adoration. "I usually always say this stupid thing- it's this cheesy pun about how he's the greatest star there is, but when I think about it, everything else truly does pale in comparison to Blue. I don't know what I'd do without him. Just his presence even makes my inability to do much actually worth trying to get better. Which to be fair, I felt being stuck doing nothing would be a hell of a lot more fun than it actually is." Papy chuckled, his voice was soothing.

"I d-don't know what I w-would do either. H-He's really brought s-so much light into my life, too. So again, I-I'm so t-terribly s-"

"Dire." Papy's voice was firm now. "It's okay. Seriously. Besides, you've gotta get back to the clinic, right? I know your shift doesn't end till a few more hours anyways."

"Oh, y-yes, you're right." Undihre chuckled lightly, embarrassment clear through the airy laughter. "T-Tell Blue that i-if he's not feeling up to it, h-he doesn't have to worry a-about work tomorrow. H-he can have the whole day o-off." 

He heard his brother laugh then. "Heh. I'll tell him, but you know my bro. Once he gets going, there's no stopping him. He's been working towards working there for weeks now, so I doubt he'll be up to taking a day off even after passing out like this." His brother was right in that regard. There was no way he was going to take a day off already. Even with… well, whatever happened to him. What was Undihre even thinking?

Their voices were trailing off as he heard the familiar click of his door shutting. Blue tossed and turned atop the soft surface, until finally finding a more comfortable position. His body easily finding a reason to succumb to sleep once he was warm and comfy. The bleak darkness alleviated some of the pounding in his skull as he drifted.

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Blue had awoken the next day, far later than he would have liked, which had Papy receiving an earholeful of riled up comments about how he should have woken him sooner. He had hurriedly readied himself afterwards, finding that he had fallen asleep in his scrubs so that getting dressed wasn't too much of a necessity, and had got to cooking up a decent helping of eggs and toast for breakfast for Papy and himself. His brother had immediately noticed how Blue had yet to change out of the scrubs, commenting on it. 'So you're gonna go after all huh? Ya know Undihre said you could have the day off, right?' In which Blue had scoffed, placing his hands on his hips as he shook his head. 'I know, but I can't let this halt everything I've worked towards like this.' He offered back, and with that his brother just let the topic fall and return to more arbitrary subjects.

So ultimately, after breakfast, and giving his brother his regular big hug, he had dashed out the door. 'Just try and keep your head on your shoulders today, alright? Don't go rattling my bones again, or I'll really have a bone to pick with ya once you get home.' His brother had called out after him, Blue's eyelights rolling in their sockets as he let out an amused groan, rushing out of the apartment complex.

Blue eyed the doors to the clinic as he stood before them. Shifting a small white bag from hand to hand, he began biting his lower jaw bone. He had to stop himself from pacing again, only this time rather from excitement it would be from the mild worry bubbling up in his soul. After he had awoken, memories of yesterday's fiasco had come rushing back. He knew Undihre would be heavily against what he was going to demand. But he had his mind set, and there was no stopping him once that happened. He steeled himself; breathing deeply before doubling down and allowing himself to push through the metal doors. He ambled his way over to the two central elevators, hopping into the one on the left as the doors opened for him. Once at the third floor, he stepped out, trudging over to Undihre's office door. He halted with his hand on the handle, his face screwing up in a look of anxiousness, but he shook his head. He dropped the white bag on the ground outside the door. Forcing himself to adjust his posture into a more confident stance, Blue turned the knob and invited himself in.

Undihre was sat at her desk, her face lit brightly by the light of her computer as she worked. She happened to be so focused on her tasks, she hadn't heard the small skeleton saunter into her office. At the soft click of her door sliding shut, an eyebrow cocked as she raised her eyes up to see who had entered. She nearly flew back in her swivel chair as she saw Blue standing assertive, his eyelights focused on her. "B-Blue! I-I had hoped you w-would have taken the day off to r-recuperate…" Dire gestured to the seat in front of her desk as Blue set himself down in it. "But y-you're as stubborn as your b-brother says, it seems." She offered a strained smile across to her friend.

"I know, Dire. But I'm stronger than that, you know that. Besides, I can't just suddenly give up even if my first day didn't really… go as planned." Blue proclaimed, shrugging his shoulders as he allowed a chuckle to escape his lips. 

Undihre sighed deeply, her eyelids drooping as her smile vanished. She hung her head, her voice seeping with guilt. "Oh Blue… you d-don't know how s-sorry I am! I should h-have never r-requested that you be his caretaker. I p-promise that nothing like that w-will hap-"

"I want to remove the rest of his restraints." Blue interjected.

Undihre froze. Her head slowly pivoting back up, until her bewildered face met Blue's stringent one. "I-I… Y-You what?" Her eyes stared deep into her friend's, her eyebrows meeting in the center of her forehead in uncertainty. "Y-You can't be serious, Blue!" She exclaimed after an extended period of silence that hung between them. "Forget the r-restraints! There's n-no way I'm l-letting you anywhere n-near 73 again! N-Not after what h-he did to y-you! Are you c-crazy, Blue?! I get th-that you may want to h-help him, but he-"

"I wasn't asking, Dire." Blue spoke, resolutely. His face was stern as he his eyelights held their place boring into Undihre's. "I doubt you've been able to find anyone to tend to him, and after what he did yesterday, it'll be near futile to find someone else who'd be even a fraction of willing to do so." He stood up, his hands splayed flat on Undihre's desk as he looked down into her perplexed visage. "So, that still makes him MY patient."

Undihre sputtered as she tried to retort to Blue's ludicrous demand. "B-Blue, I-I can't allow you t-to go through that again! Wh-what if something worse h-happens? It's i-insane! I'm sorry, but there's just n-no way I-" Her voice grew tiny, trailing off at the fierce stare Blue kept on her. "B-Blue I know he needs h-help, and you want to be the o-one to do it, but it-" She tried to start again, only to wince at her friends uncompromising face. "Y-You're not gonna listen to reason, a-are you?" She professed dejectedly.

"Well, you did say I was stubborn." Blue offered lightly, finally letting the smallest crack of a smile fall over his visage.

Undihre offered her own strained smile again, before it fell into a more concerned look. "Alright. L-Listen, Blue. A-At least let me send a f-few o-others or s-someone else in with y-you. Th-That way if something d-does hap-"

"I don't think he really likes the idea of being surrounded and monitored by groups of people like he's some kind of wild animal, Dire."

"But, Blue!" Dire nearly cried at the stubborn blue skeleton's retort. He probably didn't, but it didn't help matters if 73 kept on acting like one! Ultimately, her outcry did nothing to change the rigorous ogling from her friend. "Hah… You d-do realize that if anything happens t-to you, your brother w-would kill me, right?" Her eyebrows arched upwards, her eyes narrowed as she peered into Blue's face, thoroughly defeated.

Blues face finally lit up, a complete contrast to his prior expression. "I know, but I'm capable of handling myself. Besides…" He straightened his spine, allowing a proud deportment befall his figure. "I won't let something like that happen again. I promise, Dire. Trust me."

Undihre just shook her head before it fell into her hands. "I really sh-should not allow this. N-Not even a little bit, b-but…" She chanced a look up into her friend's countenance. "I do t-trust you, Blue." She leaned back in her swivel chair, allowing her eyes to glance over at her computer screen. "I-I haven't had a ch-chance to f-fix the camera in that room y-yet, so I-I can't even watch over y-you this time." She looked back at Blue. "Th-This is so utterly c-crazy. I'm even more so f-for even allowing i-it, ya know?"

Blue laughed then, it was light and carrying a vast amount of cheerfulness within it. It immediately seemed to lift the atmosphere in the cramped office, as even Undihre couldn't help as a genuine smile graced her face. "Well, seeing as how I'm the one so stubbornly insistent on helping him, I must like crazy." He turned, placing his hand on the doorknob, looking back at Undihre. "If anything does happen, you'll be the first to know, Dire. I promise." He turned it, walking out. "Thank you." He looked back one more time before shutting the door as he went on his way. 

"Just be c-careful, Blue…" Undihre muttered to herself once silence filled her office once again. She took in a deep breath as she tried to begrudgingly refocus back onto her earlier tasks.

Blue trailed down the hall speedily, his footsteps echoing on the tile floor. He nodded his head every once and awhile, offering a smile to some of his other coworkers who happened to pass by him. He finally turned the corner to where the lone door sat tucked away at the end of the hallway. He closed his eyes, inhaling deep, before turning the door handle and quickly ushering himself into the room.

He'd found himself dozing off. It wasn't hard. Not really anyways. He had slept in worse positions before. Plus, without the constant fear of someone sneaking up behind him, especially after his incident yesterday in which he doubted anyone would even try to come near him of their own freewill now, it was a bit more manageable. They had even given him something to stomach yesterday, which to their surprise and even more so, his own, he hadn't even tried lashing out. He even had let them restrain him again without so much as a swear uttered at the action. He couldn't place what it was, but after the little skelly had passed out atop him, he felt something extremely unwelcome in the pit of his non-existent stomach. His soul had dropped harshly when the blue skelly had muttered, what was the word again? Oh yeah. That childish termination that still had him scoffing in the back of his head. 'Friend'. Still, for one reason or another, he felt incredibly ill about the whole situation. Ugh. Whatever. He never had a good grasp on his emotions anyways. He focused on sleeping as much as possible instead. In order to quell whatever the hell it was he was feeling in hopes of it fucking off. His sockets snapped open at the sound of his door creaking and skidding across the floor, and ending with a noticeable click. His eyelights training in on the source of the sound, and suddenly he found himself sweating. Profusely.

Blue had tried to move as slowly and quietly as possible once seeing the still form strapped to the cot. Once he entered the room completely, he went to close the door, but it squeaked indignantly as it skidded closed. His sockets became half-lidded in irritation at his attempts being thwarted so soon. With a gentle huff, he pivoted around to meet the now wide awake gaze of his patient. "Hello." He offered meekly, his hand rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. He really hadn't wanted to wake Redeye after he had looked so peaceful.

Red eyelights shrunk, and sockets blinked in disbelief at the sight of the small skeleton before him. What kind of fucking joke was this? Were the staff here really that fucking dumb? His eyelights trailed over the little skelly, taking in his surprisingly relaxed pose. He barked out an empty laugh as he finally found his voice. "What the fuck? You again?" The sweat was pouring down off his skull now. For some reason, just the sight of the blue skeleton was making that same gross feeling churn inside him even harder. He forced a toothy grin on his face. "You can't seriously tell me that the staff here is this fucking incompetent in forcing you to come back in here."

Blue took note of Redeye's surprise and contortion to a suddenly uncomfortable expression. His smirk lacked the majority of the cockiness it had held yesterday. Blue let his own soft smile grow just a bit at the red skeleton's attempt at sounding impervious. "Yes, me again. And unfortunately, if anyone's incompetent, it would be me." He had stepped forward, one hand on his hip as the other gesticulated along with his words. "I came back of my own volition."

The larger skeleton would have keeled over in incredulity at the smaller's claim. Instead he found himself laughing emptily, his face screwed up in a mix of confused amusement and disbelief. He what now? No no no. There was no way the little skelly would meander back in here on his own. Let alone, of his own accord. "Well, shit. You've gotta be on a whole new level of fucking stupid then." He offered, but it lacked any of the bite the words should have carried.

Blue rolled his eyelights at Redeye's declaration. He shrugged his shoulders in response. "If that's how you want to view it, then yes. I guess so." He walked further into the room, but rather than walking towards his patient first, he pulled out a small stool that was tucked underneath a counter against the far wall before wheeling it over near the cot. He plopped himself down on it, eyeing the restraints strapped over the larger skeleton's body. There were more now. It looked incredibly uncomfortable, but he would perdure any action towards them until he felt it was the right time. "I never actually got to introduce myself yesterday. My name is Bluelmin Sans Light. Or well, I usually just go by Blue." He offered lightly, his smile never leaving his face as he found himself growing quite amused with Redeye's cynical appearance.

He literally was strangling the kid yesterday, and now he was responding with sarcastic satire and fucking introducing himself? Nah, this kid wasn't just stupid. He was fucking crazy. The larger skeleton laughed airily as the blue skelly successfully helped in deepening his incredulity. He cocked a brow ridge, he found the sickening feeling was quelling a bit as 'Blue' talked. Alright. Whatever the fuck was going on, he'd play along. "Blue, huh? No wonder. Matches those sparkly little eyelights o' yours." His voice was slowly returning back to normal rather than drowning in confusion.

Blue flushed gently at what Redeye said, accepting the, for once, decent compliment. Skeleton's eyelights more or less portrayed the color magic that they had, or that of which they used most often. His own magic was a wispy light blue, and therefore reflected in his eyelights. He could only assume the same went as to why Redeye was named as such. "Yes. You're Redeye Sans Script, right? Probably in coalition with your crimson eyelights I'm assuming?" He asked.

The larger rolled his eyelights, his face screwing up in a grimace. Tch. He hated his first name. Wow, so original. Red eye. Yeah, he had red eyelights, whoop de fucking doo. At least even Blue's first name was unique in a way. He grunted, sneering at the blue skelly at the utterance of his full name. "Don't fucking call me that." The skeleton growled, his eyelids narrowed to slits.

Blue didn't even flinch as his patient snarled at him. He cocked his head instead, his voice remaining even and gentle. "Oh. My apologies. What would you rather I call you then?" Blue asked honestly eager to know.

The red skeleton heaved out a heavy sigh, his eyelids relaxing at the smaller's tone. Great. His scare tactics weren't working on the little shit. God, dealing with this kid was gonna be fucking exhausting. "Just Red. I don't need to be reminded what color my eyelights are every fucking second of my life. And I don't associate with the fucking name 'Script' anymore." 'Red' uttered, the last sentence full of spite.

Blue shot a questioning look at Red's last sentence dripping with malice. He decided that it wasn't the time to question it as his smile found its way back onto his face. "Okay. Red it is then." He smiled brightly, his eyelights darted to the clock on the right wall. 1:05 p.m. He'd taken about an hour in Undihre's office. Far longer than he would have liked. "Hey, Red? Have you had anything to eat or drink yet?" His voice fell a bit, remembering Red's words yesterday. He feared that they may have refused to try and give him anything after the events that transpired.

This kid was really messing him up. He could have easily dusted him yesterday, but here he was sounding so completely concerned of HIS well being. Fucking hell. "They gave me something last night, but that was it. Haven't had nothin' since then." He cocked a brow ridge again. "Why?"

Blue bit his lower jaw, it was already late afternoon. Red must be starving, even with whatever little amount of sustenance they had managed to give him yesterday. He hopped off the seat, rushing over towards the door before hunching over to grab the little white bag he had tucked away next to it on the floor. "I'm so sorry they keep refraining from giving you proper nourishment like that." He started, plopping the white bag on a white countertop against the wall. His back was to Red at this point. "I mean, it is partially your own fault for making it so hard on them in the first place, but even still." He twirled around, a small blue container in his hands. "I have a distinct feeling you may also refuse what they've been serving you because it's from here. I mean, the food here isn't that bad if I say so myself, but you don't seem to be enjoying being here in general. Besides, it's nothing like good home cooked food anyways." He chuckled lightly, heading back towards Red and placing the container on a small table next to his cot. "So I took the liberty of making something this morning for you. I hope that you don't mind breakfast food." Blue smiled earnestly, popping the lid off the blue container.

Red swallowed, his features showing clear signs of confusion again. Alright seriously. What the fuck was this kid doing? He was acting like yesterday didn't even fucking happen. Of course the reason why they kept refusing to feed him was his own damn fault. He fucking told Blue it was. He bit and lashed out every time they had tried to. Well, except last night, but that was besides the point. He eyed the little container the other skelly placed down by him. Gods, whatever it was it smelled fucking heavenly. His eyelights trailed back up to the smaller skeleton as his eyes narrowed slightly. "So what? Are you gonna try and feed me? As much as I wouldn't mind having your pretty little hands shoveling food into my gob, but holy hell you've gotta be more dense than I originally thought if that's what you're actually planning here." He leaned forward, it was incredibly straining as there was a new leather strap awfully close to his neck hindering him from moving forward too much. "Holy hell, how long were you blacked out for to forget that I nearly fucking- Bit. Someone's. Fingers. Off." Red added, each word separate and firm. His voice had almost fallen back into its original cockiness as he managed an actual smirk. The idea of getting to possibly taste the little skeleton's fingers between his teeth was making him feel awfully giddy for some reason. His tongue darted out, licking over his sharp teeth tantalizingly.

Blue dragged out a long sigh from his nasal cavity. He shook his head, moving to stand face to face with the red skeleton. "Oh, no. I didn't forget about that." He was blushing heavily. There were the dirty remarks again. He began to work at removing a leather strap settled high across the larger's sternum. His eyelights flicking up to meet red one's momentarily. "I have no intention of chancing the possibility of losing my fingers either." The leather fell onto the bed as his hands trailed further down to start working on a strap around Red's midsection.

This was getting fucking ridiculous. Blue was taking the restraints off of him now. The one around his midsection fell against the bed along with the one that had been higher up near his neck. What was this kid fucking doing? He laughed awkwardly. "Aheh… Well then you certainly must have a screw loose in that fucking skull of yours if you're forgetting just why you fucking blacked out to begin with." The little skelly had knelt down. He was undoing the strap over his left femur now. "This didn't work out too well in your favor yesterday, dollface, and you only managed to undo two then." Blue's hands went onto his right femur as he had felt his left being freed. "If I almost fucked ya up real good then, giving me this much freedom isn't such a good idea." His red eyelights were blown out as if to ratify the claim that this was indeed a bad idea. That'd have to do the trick. Come on now. Just a flinch, or something. Anything.

Blue kept working at the restraints, Red's words filtering through to his anxiety stricken thoughts. Red was right. Yesterday, after just releasing just the restraints bounding his wrists, the larger skeleton managed to make him pass out. This was one of the reasons he was working on the straps that were the furthest from those near his arms. His eyelights shrank a bit in size at Red's almost promise to prove how much more he could dish out if given complete freedom. Yet, Blue found himself continuing his task of freeing the other. Unable to really pinpoint why, he felt that he just needed to do this. That somehow this might prove to the other he was trustworthy. Even if only a little. "Well, I guess that's for me to worry about, isn't it?" Blue muttered softly, without a trace of worry in the query.

Red's face was the one that flushed then. Shit. The little skelly really wasn't finding anything he did threatening. His entire lower body was now freed from the leather, but he remained frozen still. The smaller skeleton's lack of disquietude was really screwing with his head. How could someone so soft and squishy have nearly no qualms towards someone so brash and daunting as himself? His sockets had grown wide, and his mouth hung agape. His eyelights had shrunk as they darted across the room, as if it would provide him with the answers he so desperately needed. 

Blue didn't really know how to take Red's sudden silence. He was eyeing the restraints along the larger's arms as he contemplated his next course of action. He drew in a sharp breath and began to loosen the straps over both his humeri. Decidedly coming to terms with the fact that since Red was already practically free from all the other straps, that he might as well continue forward with his initial plan. "Plus, if I don't release you from these, how will you be able to eat the food I made for you?" His voice was tender, but his eyelights never moving from the red skeleton's claws. "I'm not one for wastefulness, I'll have you know." The last two restraints were the ones binding the larger's wrists down now. Yet, Blue pushed on, working on the left first. "I mean it's getting colder the longer it's sitting out like that. My magnificent meals should be enjoyed when they're nice and warm! So let's get this over with, shall we?" Red's left wrist was free now, and without even a bit of cessation, he worked at the strap on his right until it, too, fell onto the bed.

Red remained completely motionless, not even acknowledging that he was fully free from the leather binds now. His face frozen in a state of outright bemusement. Even as the smaller skeleton moved back a few steps, Red found himself unable to even sputter out a snide remark. This little skeleton was successfully breaking the larger's disposition. The blue skelly just smiled at him, and Red noticed the way his eyelights would dart every once and awhile to his newly freed claws. Yet, it wasn't with fear. It was with curiosity, and only slight apprehension.

Blue tapped his foot against the floor, his smile fading a tad. Why was Red so quiet still? He had figured the larger would have at least made a vulgar jipe or another cocky exclamation at this point. His silence was oddly concerning to Blue. As much as the red skeleton's crude behavior happened to make Blue feel a bit demure, the lack of it entirely was just making him uneasy. "Um… Wowzers. Cat got your tongue?" Blue chuckled awkwardly. "I mean, the lack of obscene comments is kinda nice, but this complete silence? I'm not gonna lie, but it's sorta freaking me out. You don't seem to be the kind to not speak out at every chance." Blue had begun shifting from foot to foot as he tried to at least keep an air of normalcy by continuing to talk. He had moved back only to observe what Red would do once he was released from the leather binding, but he was just sat immobile on the cot. Blue huffed, and nudged the table with the container of still slightly steaming food towards the other. "Well if you're gonna just sit there with your mouth open like that, you might as well start eating. The toast might be almost cold now though."

The red skeleton swallowed hard, he vaguely realized he still had his jaw pretty much in his lap once Blue pointed it out, and snapped it shut. His shoulders heaving as he breathed hard, trying to discern just what the fuck happened. He lifted a claw to scratch at a slight crack running over his skull as he struggled to wrap his skull around the little skelly's actions. Holy shit. Red looked at his claw, then his other one, putting them both out before him as he clenched and unclenched them. The fucking kid actually did it. He flinched as Blue pushed the table towards him. Fuck, why was he so fidgety right now? The smell wafting from the container hit his nasal cavity again, and he could nearly feel himself drooling. Red leaned forward to eye what was in the container. There were two pieces of toast, three eggs sunny side up, and a heaping handful of home fries on the side. He nearly threw himself onto the table, about ready to shovel the food into his sharky maw. He held the container high over his mouth, tilting it slightly, but hesitated. Red narrowed his sockets at the little skelly who was eyeing him contentedly. "The fuck ya do to it?" He spat gruffly.

Blue watched carefully as Red moved his claws about, and nearly felt his face light up even more as the larger hastily grabbed for the insulated container. He noticed how Red had it lifted over his head, about ready to drop the food into his mouth, and Blue scrambled to get the utensils from the bag on the counter. "You don't have to eat it like that, ya know? I have some plasticware right h-" His eyelights shrank at the other's question. "What? What do you mean?" He cocked his head, purely confused. "It's just from the big breakfast I cooked for my brother and myself this morning. Made with the best ingredients! Well, that we could afford anyways… And lots of love!" Blue exclaimed, chest puffed out in pride. His face fell a bit. "Uh…Why? Is something wrong with it?" He didn't think it had gotten too cold, but maybe Red found something else wrong with it.

Red squinted at the blue skeleton, who truly looked hurt at his query. He eyed the container in his claw again. Well, it didn't LOOK poisoned. Plus it smelled safe enough. Smelled really fucking good actually. Setting aside the fact he hadn't had anything solid in four days. His eyelights travelled back over to Blue, who still looked up at him in clueless innocence. Yeah. There was no way the pretty little doll would even think of poisoning it. He offered his best reassuring smile, which turned out to look just as cocky and bawdy as any of his others, back towards the smaller skelly. "Nah. 's nothin'." With that, he titled the container over his gaping mouth, relishing in the taste of the food as it hit his conjured tongue. He swallowed it hastily, letting out an unseemly loud belch along with a satisfied sigh. He leaned back in the cot, his hunger primarily satiated. "Holy shit. You made that? Never had eggs and toast that tasted like fucking angels made 'em before." Red cackled loudly. "Or well, should I say- Never had eggs and toast made by a fucking angel before." He winked, tip of his tongue poking out between two teeth.

Ah. Those remarks were back. For some reason the smaller skeleton found himself nearly sighing in relief at the return of Red's usual behavior. His words had Blue blushing heavily, but his face was nearly split in half by how wide his smile had grown. Papy had always complimented him on his food, but never with such strong praise before. His sockets scrunched up as his smile threatened to nearly take over his entire face. "R-Really? Was it that good? I've been trying to use different spices and stuff with the potatoes, but aheh… I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!" He took the container, snapping the lid back in place and tossing it back into the white bag along with the unused utensils. As improper as Red's behavior was in eating it, he wasn't going to judge. He knew the larger must have been really malnourished from the past few days. Blue doubted that his little home cooked meal had really helped any, but was beaming at the praise nonetheless. "Thank you, Red." His words were soft, as if he was talking to himself. He sat down on the stool again, wheeling himself to be more in front of the other seated skeleton.

Red let out a few laughs, his body shaking with how deep they were. God, this cute little skelly was something else. All he did was sing a little praise at finally getting to eat something other than bland soup, and it was like Blue was suddenly on top of the world. "Yeah, yeah. Was pretty fucking tasty." He placed his claws on his femurs, leaning over close to the little skelly. "Bet you'd taste a hell of a lot better though." Red's words were borderline sensual as he eyed the smaller skeleton hungrily. His face screwed up in question suddenly as he barely heard Blue whisper out his thanks. Why was he thanking him? If anything, Red knew he was being an obnoxious and pretentious little bitch. "What for?" He found himself asking, before really thinking on the matter if he really cared to know or not.

Blue squeaked, his face glowing bright as Red met his eyes. Okay, maybe Red's silence from earlier WAS actually more preferable. He felt like he was going to implode if this kept up. "Well, I guess for one: Not choking me out this time." Blue half joked, scratching at his zygomatic arch. His eyelights snapping to the right. "And two: For letting me do this. I know you haven't been having the time of your life while being here. I just… as much as you probably hate this place and pretty much everyone in it at this point, it just means a lot that you're even just letting me talk to you. Let alone, eating the food I made." Blue's smile was tranquil as he let his eyelights move back to meet Red's.

Red nearly keeled over as he began to laugh at Blue's first reasoning. Oh yeah. That was a hell of a good reason. His laughing immediately turned into a harsh coughing fit as Blue droned on for the second part, sounding fully beholden. Woah woah. Wait a fucking minute. Blue was thanking him for letting him talk? For eating his food? What the actual fuck? Yeah, sure he despised everyone in this fucking literal hell, but Blue actually had some sort of sense of actual compassion. And blatant stupidity. And a real cute fucking face. Especially with his magic flushed over his cheeks like that. And his delicious little flinches at every dirty remark he spat out. Great, don't start getting a boner now, ya fucking pig. Gods. His eyelights followed Blue's every move. Huh. Now that he was reflecting on just what Blue said, he found that he couldn't really find a reason why he didn't lash out like he would have before. It came to him so easily yesterday, but when he thought about trying to strangle the life out of the smaller skelly again, his soul panged in a really fucking annoying way. So he decided against it. For the time being anyways. Plus, the blue skeleton had offered him food. If that wasn't worth enough for the skelly to be allowed to live another day, than he didn't know what was. "Ha. Don't mention it, sweet cheeks. Don't get me wrong, though. I still don't trust you with a single fiber of my being. If anything, it's just the single fact that if I were to go ahead and strangle ya again, you'd just come back wouldn't ya? Some sorta endless fucking cycle I bet. You're some sorta real fucking crazy, dollface." He laughed again, actually being able to relax back into his cot at being freed from his bindings.

Blue's demeanor fell as Red pointed out that he didn't trust him even in the slightest. Still, the fact that Red hadn't snapped and attacked him seemed like a step in the right direction. He found himself smiling at Red's reasoning for keeping himself generally calm. That was true. Even if Blue had fallen victim to being a ragdoll in the larger skeleton's grip again, he almost had no doubts that he would still come back. Gosh, he really was manic huh? He chuckled a bit at Red's final notion, finding himself agreeing to it. "I guess I am, aren't I?" He conjured his own tongue, letting it stick out the side of his mouth as he tried at a wink of his own at the red skeleton. "That, or I must just really like the feeling of your claws around my neck." He spoke as alluringly as he could possibly allow himself to, before he curled in on himself, raucous laughter filling the air.

Red flushed. Holy fuck. Did the soft little angel just do what he thought he fucking did? Well shit, if his magic wasn't coalescing on his pelvis before, it sure as hell was now, and especially at the peek of that little blue tongue darting out at him. Who knew the kid had it in him? He found himself laughing suddenly along with the smaller's own lighthearted chuckles. Time to reassert himself as the ringmaster of being bawdy though. "No fucking way you just did that. Thought you were a sweet little angel, babydoll. Didn't know you had such a dirty mind hidden under that whole cute and bubbly facade." He leaned over the table that was the only obstacle between the two skeletons, as his voice dropped lower in pitch. "Makes me want to strip ya down bare to see what else you're hidin'." His eyelights had blown out harshly, his blush still evident on his cheekbones as he nearly breathed the words down Blue's neck. Good thing he was much taller than the little skelly. He saw Blue shiver under his breath. Perfect.

Blue's breath hitched as Red towered over him with his claws digging into the wood of the table before him. Okay, he could light up the night with his embarrassed blushing now. He was sure of it. Speaking of night, he chanced a glance at the clock up on the wall. 5:26 p.m. Oh stars! His shift ended over twenty minutes ago! Papy would be worried sick if he didn't start heading home now. He jumped to his feet, startling the red skeleton a bit at his sudden action. "Oh gosh! I'm sorry, Red, but my shift ended almost 30 minutes ago. I have to get back home or my brother will be up in arms about it." He pushed the table out of the way from between them, moving to stand right in front of Red. His eyelids drooped, his lower jaw being chewed harshly. "I'm so sorry to ask this of you, especially after you've finally been freed of them after so long, but Dr. Dire would never let me come back here if I didn't at least strap a few of the restraints back on you." His soul dropped in his chest. What an awful thing to say. "Stars. We really are treating you like this is a prison, aren't we? I really don't want to have to tie you up like that again. " He looked away, unable to meet Red's eyes as he teetered back and forth on his heels. A heavy silence hung between them then, and Blue immediately felt even worse. Of course he would have to try and make Red comply with the one thing he hated the idea most of. Just when he felt he had been making some progress, too. Maybe he wouldn't have to tie him up again, he tried to reason with himself. He could probably sneak back in somehow even if Undihre did find out. Maybe. Unless she decided to barricade the room off completely. Further trapping Red like he was some savage beast. Blue shuddered at the thought. "W-Would you perhaps let me at least bind your wrists again? Besides, I could leave the restraints far less tight than they previously were. Dr. Dire has yet to replace the camera anyway so she probably would barely notice they were loose if she happened to come in to fix it later tonight." His eyelights darted to the still hanging metal in the corner as he went on. "I'd immediately take them off of you again once my shift starts tomorrow. So that way… you wouldn't have to deal with it for that long…" He continued meekly, his eyelights dim as they trailed over the small decorative black vines lining the jutted out portion of the door. What was he even saying? Red had already been dealing with being strapped down for over a week now. He shouldn't have to deal with it at all. Blue was anxiously trying to find an at least somewhat admissible proposition, but the more his mind wrapped around his request, the more he began to detest the fact he had even asked.

"Ah. Yeah, the fish bitch. Right." Red muttered after Blue dejectedly refused to meet his gaze. The little skelly's change in demeanor was drastic, and suddenly it made the whole room seem a hell of a lot colder. It was really aggravating him, if he was being honest. The blue skeleton was prattling on and on. He grunted as he contemplated his choices here. He couldn't believe how easy it sounded to just let himself give in to the smaller's proposal. Fuck. The kid was making him soft. He growled lowly, his head cocking to the right. Alright. He could make this work in his favor. "So what do I get out of it?" Red smirked as Blue finally looked up at him. He crossed his arms across his chest. "Besides from popping a boner at the idea that your delicate little hands will be the ones strapping me down nice 'n tight." 

Blue's sockets were unnaturally wide. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Red wasn't even fighting him on it, or well, at least not physically like he had figured it would lead to. He wanted something in return though, which Blue figured, was undoubtedly fair in this regard. What could Blue offer though? His blue eyelights bore into red one's. "What would you like?"

Red couldn't help the further upturning of the corners of his mouth after Blue asked the question. God, this kid was so fucking innocent. Damn. All the things he would REALLY fucking like filtered through his dawdy skull in that moment. Surprisingly, he managed to keep the thoughts to himself. He leaned down, his face just a fraction away from Blue's now. "I think you and I both know that I shouldn't be allowed to answer a question like that." One claw reached out to take Blue's lower jaw into it, keeping the smaller skelly from looking away from him. He breathed down Blue's neck as he towered over him. "Cause I have a feeling you might not be too fond of some of my answers." Red summoned his tongue again, letting it dangle down haughtily as his eyelights slowly trailed over the small skelly. “So why don’t we have you come up with a few suggestions first, babydoll?”

Blue swallowed hard, his magic coming to fruition on his cheekbones again. It was gonna permanently stain his face at this point. He was sure of it. The bright blue blush would permanently mark his cheekbones, and he would probably be regrettably dubbed the name ‘Blueface’ by none other than his own brother, and be known as such forever amongst his family and friends. He felt his right eyelid twitch at the dreadful thought of it. At Red's last query, he finally allowed himself to refocus. Some suggestions from himself, huh? But what exactly could he offer that Red would even find remotely suitable to practically tying him up again? He glanced at the clock again. 6:02 p.m. He should've been home an hour ago now. He just hadn't realized how much time had passed since there were no windows in this room. Oh wait. There was no window in this room. Red must have not been able to view the outside since he had been admitted here. Let alone be allowed outside. Perfect! "Oh! I can get permission to let you be allowed to venture out into the courtyard tomorrow!" His face lit up after what seemed like ages. "I know that I can get Dire to agree to it. It might take some begging, but she’s never been one to be able to say no to ‘me’!" He gleamed proudly, his face still within the clutches of Red's right claw. “I could even make you something else to eat for lunch tomorrow, too! As a bonus! Well, if you wanted me to, I mean.” Blue added, his boisterous tone shrouded lightly in shyness. He was still a bit hopped-up on Red’s earlier praise towards his cooking. 

The courtyard? Huh. So Blue could get him the permission to go outside, or so he said anyways. That was one thing he hadn’t even thought as the least bit possible since he was admitted. Especially after his various acts of ‘kindness’ towards anyone that managed to even get a bit too close. Heh. Bit. It had seemed like a far off inclination. So, this could prove to be really fucking useful actually. As much as being rid of the restraints was helping him feel a hell of a lot better than before, he was still nowhere near being fully rid of the fucking place. It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried busting out before. Rather, he tried immediately once he had awoken from unconsciousness the first day. There was a swarm of people dressed in whites and grays swarming around him; trying to hook him up to several machines. As Red realized this, he had lashed out, clawing at anyone even remotely nearby and had run from the room. However, his feat proved futile and wound up being the sole reason why he had been tied up in the first place. If he was able to head out into the courtyard, he could plan an actual escape route. Even if the courtyard was surrounded by the facility walls, it would still present a better chance than the high probability of being caught again if he ventured outside his room at any point on his own. He tapped a claw on his left hand against his chin thoughtfully, letting the claws on his right softly stroke Blue’s cheek as he refused to release his grip on the other’s jaw. He found that he very much liked having the the smaller skeleton’s gaze on him. “Yeah. Ya know what? Sure. I think I’ll take ya up on that offer o’ yours.” He chuckled darkly. “Seems like one hell of a fat chance you can get permission from anyone to let me be allowed to go outside, let alone from the fish bitch. But, damn, if she let you come back in here after the shit I pulled yesterday, it doesn’t seem too far off actually. You’re one hell of an influencer, sweet cheeks.” He brought his face closer to the other's, they were now separated by barely a fraction of an inch. "Always just full o' surprises, aintcha?"

"My brother would always tell me something similar actually." Blue reasoned, face flushing further if monsterly possible as Red closed the already small distance between them. "More along the lines of how my physical attributes tend to work to my advantage, but yeah." Wait. His brother! He turned his head, as much as he could while he was still being held in place by Red, to try and glance at the clock again. 6:30 p.m. Another half hour must have went by while he'd been prattling on with the larger skeleton. "Oh stars! I won't be able to do anything if my brother refuses to let me out of the house tomorrow for getting home so late!"

Red took hold of Blue's other cheek in his free hand, forcing the other to look towards him again. "I get it, sugar. Let's get those delicate little hands o' yours workin' on tying me up again, yeah?" He released Blue's face reluctantly, falling back onto the cot once more. "You're lucky, dollface. I usually wouldn't let anyone subdue me like this so easily." His eyelights flickered slightly as his sockets narrowed. "I think it's gotta be the idea of having a soft little angel like you walkin' all over me. It's a real fuckin' turn on, I'm not gonna lie." He rumbled out lowly, eyelights watching as Blue ambled a bit closer to the cot, the smaller's face a beacon even in the harsh white light of the room. His cute little reactions were fucking delectable.

Blue felt as though he must have been giving off steam from how hot his face had been for the last few hours now. He looked down at the straps lying on the bed, feeling all the more guilty as he began to work on strapping Red's right wrist back to the side of the cot. "Thank you. For allowing me to do this, I mean. As much as I'm against it, I can't have Dire enforcing an even more restrictive act upon you." Blue responded. "Speaking of which, what would you like me to make you tomorrow? I don't have too much at the house, but I could stop for ingredients in the morning if you'd like something specific."

Red watched in earnest interest as Blue carefully strapped his right wrist down to the plastic siding on the cot once again. He could easily tear out of that if he so pleased. "Anything ya make'll be fine, babydoll. I mean if I'm being honest though-" He caught Blue's jaw in his free claw again. "You've been making me crave somethin' real fuckin' sweet as of late." He dropped his hand as his eyes glazed over moving his face in close again, enjoying the flustered look Blue shot at him. His left wrist had somehow been successfully tied to the cot whilst he held Blue's gaze. He tugged at the restraints. They felt as secure as he felt towards himself. Which even on good days, was fucking laughable. "I think maybe you should tighten these a bit, sugar. Don't want me getting out, and tryin' to hurt myself, do ya?"

"Well, I suppose based on previous factors, I shouldn't really be so steadfast in falsifying that statement." He huffed. "I just don't want to hurt you, Red. So just, tell me when it's too much, alright?" He began to tighten the straps, Red's gaze never faltering from him.

"If you couldn't tell, dollface, I'm kind of a sucker for pain." He sniggered lowly. "Besides, I really want to see if maybe you gotta thing for this sorta shit. Like a bondage kink or some shit."

Blue flushed, but kept his face primarily neutral at Red's statement, before meeting the other's eyes again. He offered the cockiest smirk he could manage, letting his sockets grow half-lidded. "Well, if you're a good boy again tomorrow, maybe I'll show you what I'm really into." He offered, his tone sounding far more sultry than he had implied.

Red's sockets blew wide, his flushing face threatening to outshine the other's. He cackled loudly, hunching over in the cot, his figure bouncing with each laugh. "Holy shit, kid. Don't go getting my hopes up like that now." He tilted his head to the side as his eyelights darkened, a ravenous look taking over his visage. "You don't know what kind of terrain you're stepping foot in, angel."

Blue had stepped back, going to grab the little white bag laying atop the counter as Red had begun laughing. He chuckled a little himself. He was finding it easier to be able to counter the larger one's underlying vulgar comments more and more. He was standing in front of the door now, his back to it as he took in Red's primal disposition. He smiled gently back towards his patient. "To be fair, neither do you, Red."

His face contorted to one of surprised regale. Holy shit. He couldn't with this kid. Red watched as Blue began to open the door, letting a foot keep it propped open as he still faced towards him.

"Well, Red. I'm sorry, but I do have to head out now." He placed his hand on the handle of the door, stepping out and turning around so he could see Red whilst standing in the open doorway. "Have a good night, and I'll see you tomorrow!" He waited a second for Red to respond, but wound up just sending himself off with a small wave to the other as he closed the door.

Red kept his eyes on the door for a long while after the little skelly left. "Yeah. See ya tomorrow…" He whispered to the silent room.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

Once Blue had safely found himself back home, and after an earholeful of horrible puns mixed in with the worried scolds from his older brother, he found himself lying in bed. He fell asleep pondering as to why Red's eyelights had looked so shallow when he had left.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈»

Of all the nights for Red to find himself unable to doze off, it had to be this one.


	4. Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Are ya scared o' me?" He tilted his head as he further closed in on her now trembling form. Perfect. His voice came out dangerously low as his now deep red eyelights bore into her fearful brown eyes. His brow bones furrowed as his face contorted to a cruel sneer. 
> 
> "You should be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to get uploaded
> 
> I literally rewrote Blue and Dire's conversation like 50 times until I felt it was how I wanted it
> 
> Speaking of which, I hope y'all have some time on your hands cause I guess writing short chapters isn't something I can do
> 
> Cause this chapter is 15,000 words :/
> 
> Also for reference:  
Doganna = UnderSwap Dogaressa  
Dogamin = Underswap Dogamy
> 
> Oh and for fun here's Blue's breakfast taco recipe  
[It's number 13](https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/alisonroman/17-breakfast-tacos)
> 
> Welp. Enjoy!

Undihre wasn't one who was new to the idea of spying. When she had been in the Underground, she had cameras placed in all sorts of undisclosed places to keep watch on just about everything that happened to be going down. Sometimes, she would have even found herself watching the footage just to alleviate some of her boredom on certain days. This, however, was different. Undihre had been keeping a close watch on her office door, waiting for Blue to come bounding in at any moment. When it didn't happen, she chanced a peek outside and down the hall, but the silence she was greeted with was deafening. It had been close to the time Blue would be heading home, she realized. So, she had waited outside her door to try and catch him, if and when he did come trudging past. After about a good 45 minutes went by, and still no sign of the little blue skeleton, was when she had begun to really worry.

So, she had a good reason as any to be doing this. It was in her friend's best interest. She wasn't just standing here to hopefully find fuel to toss on the burning passion towards her ever growing ship between the two skeletons. That'd be ridiculous! Especially since patient 73 was an utter beast of a monster. Blue totally deserved someone better. Still, that didn't stop her ship from building itself from the ground up, very much to her disapproval. She had heard Blue muttering something from behind the door, but it was far too muffled for her to make out too much. 'I just don't want to hurt you, Red. So just, tell me when it's too much, alright?' Blue was talking about replacing the restraints back on him? No way. Did he actually manage to take them off the red skeleton without a fight?

'If you couldn't tell, dollface, I'm kind of a sucker for pain.' 73's voice. It was hard to get the two skeleton's voices mixed up with how vast of a contrast they were. 'Besides,' She heard the red skeleton continue. 'I really want to see if maybe you gotta thing for this sorta shit. Like a bondage kink or some shit.' She smacked a hand over her mouth, her eyes bulging. She knew he had quite the mouth, but speaking like that about Blue was-! Oh no. The ships sails were raising.

Her face was practically one with the door now. She wondered how Blue would respond. If she had any inclination on it, it would probably be something along the lines of chastising 73 on the indecent remark. She heard Blue pipe up again, and held her breath to hear his reaction. 'Well, if you're a good boy again tomorrow, maybe I'll show you what I'm really into.' Okay. Nope. Nope! Her face was beet red as she pulled back from the door. The ship just fucking sailed. Just what exactly had been going on before she managed to come down and eavesdrop?! She clambered to her feet as muffled laughter echoed out of the room into the hallway. She turned and practically ran to her office.

Oh stars. She needed to talk to someone about this! Once she was safe inside her office again, she pulled out her phone and started dialing. Alvrous had to be home by now.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

"Hey, you baking something?" Papy's voice suddenly piped up from behind him as Blue heard him wheel himself into the kitchen. "Smells pretty good, lil' bro." It sounded earnest; honest.

Blue had spun around then, placing a prideful grin on his face as he brushed his hands off onto his frilly white apron. There were some irremovable stains on it from when they had picked it out from the little thrift shop, but Blue loved it nonetheless. Especially since it read, although faded slightly, 'Star Chef' which his brother claimed was too good of a fit not to purchase it. His hands rested at his hips as he nodded, face lightly flushing at his brother's words. "Yep! I haven't made anything like this before, but I'm hoping to bring it to work today!" He exclaimed, jovially.

"Nice." His older brother replied, a relaxed smile on his face. He had wheeled himself up to his spot at the table, resting his chin in his palm as it rested on the tabletop. "Now, you promise you'll actually be home on time tonight? I don't wanna hear no bones about it." He offered, his grin raising a bit at his lackluster pun.

Blue cast his eyes shyly to the side. He groaned, but couldn't help the smile that graced his features still at his brother's words. Papy was such a worrywart, but he had come to love that fact. It proved just how much the older cared for him. "I know, Papy. I'm sorry, I just got so caught up at work yesterday and… yeah. I promise I'll be home on time tonight!" He replied, turning back to the stove to peek through the little glass window and check in on his creation.

"I know you can get carried away with things sometimes, but at least just give me a call if you're gonna be out that late again, alright?" The taller muttered softly. "You know I just get weary of these streets at night. We both know first hand how some humans still see Monsters, and I just worry is all." He watched as the smaller skeleton pulled a tray out of the oven, placing it upon the countertop gently. "Speaking of which, you still have no recollection what happened Tuesday, huh?"

Blue sighed happily out his nasal cavity. It looked delicious! He hoped Red would like it. He hadn't necessarily asked what kind of sweets he liked, but the red skeleton did say anything he made would suffice. He twitched at his brother's question. After he realized Undihre hadn't brought up the fact that it was a patient at the clinic who had made Blue pass out, Blue decided to keep his brother in the dark about Red. If Papy knew the truth about what happened, he doubted he'd ever be allowed to step foot in the building again. And he worked way too hard to get to where he was now for that to happen. He promised himself he'd tell his brother eventually. Just not now. "No. I still can't remember anything. I just suddenly felt so tired, and then all of a sudden I'm waking up in bed here." He replied, evenly.

Papy nodded. "You probably didn't eat enough or something. Not to mention, you bolted right outta here like the place was on fire." He laughed, light-heartedly. As hyper as his little brother could get, he found that his seemingly never ending source of energy just added to what made Blue exactly who he was. "Just learn to relax sometimes, alright?"

Blue in turn agreed to relax, in which his brother commented, winking 'Don't even think about trying to go behind my back and continue working yourself to death. I'll know. Remember, I can see right through you, bro.' Blue just shook his head at the awful joke, and went about packing up the little dessert he'd made, as well as another few things. Once settled, he'd tossed on his scrubs, newly cleaned from the laundry he'd started once he had gotten home last night, and slipped on his shoes. Giving his brother a hug, lingering a bit longer than usual, and a small skeleton kiss to the side of his cheekbone, he dashed off towards the clinic.

He had ran through the metal doors as soon as they were in his sights, and taken the elevator up to the third floor immediately. He had a feeling he'd needed to go in a bit earlier than when his shift actually started in order to start on his plan. This was gonna be quite a tough behest. Still, he had a feeling he could make it work. He knocked briskly at Undihre's office door, waiting till he heard her welcoming voice chime through it, and pushed into the room. "Hi, Dire!" He started, enthusiastically. Best to start with the right attitude if he was gonna pull this off.

Dire blushed as she remembered what she had heard through the door to room 348 yesterday, but coughed and offered her friend a smile of her own. "H-Hi, Blue! So I'm glad to see that you made i-it home s-safe last night. D-Did patient 73 at least behave a bit more in l-line yesterday?" She only knew as much as the few minutes she managed to eavesdrop on, and found herself really wanting to know more details of what happened between the two skeletons.

"Well of course I did, Dire! I told you that I wasn't going to let anything like what happened on Tuesday happen again." Blue countered, as he took a seat in front of the Fish Monster. He kicked his feet back and forth, swaying his body in an attempt to look as complacent as possible. "Actually, yes. I managed to even go along with my initial plans to help alleviate some of the stress that I knew he felt by being bound to his bed. He didn't even fight me on it." He calmly replied, letting stars twinkle brightly in his eyelights. "I think I'm making great progress with him now. I can even keep up a somewhat decent conversation, putting aside the fact that his choice of words can be quite indecent at times." He had grumbled the last part, flushing gently.

Undihre had noticed his flush towards the end, and this only helped in furthering her own deep red on her cheeks, knowing full well what the little skeleton meant. And also that Blue could easily dish out some suggestive remarks of his own if what she overheard last night was anything to take into consideration. She also felt that maybe, just maybe, her theory was right after all. That Blue might be the one to break through 73's barriers in the hopes of getting him the help he desperately needed. Maybe. She still held quite a decent amount of contempt towards the red skeleton for what he had subjected Blue to before. She still felt extremely guilty about it as well. "I'm g-glad you're actually finding a way to get th-through to him. I don't think a-anyone heard anything somewhat c-coherent spoken by him other than quite a f-few swears." She chuckled shyly, as she looked over her friend's expression. He seemed… really happy about how things had suddenly turned around. 

"I know." Blue laughed, loud and genuine. "He really has a way with words sometimes, huh?" He joked, rolling his eyelights as he continued to rock back and forth in the seat. "Also, I'm sorry, but I only replaced the straps on his wrists before I left yesterday. I don't know if you had a chance yesterday to go in and try to fix the camera and saw that or not, but I just couldn't condone the thought of restricting Red so completely like that again." Blue spoke with an apologetic tone gracing his words.

Now that was a major development. The fact that 73 actually let Blue tie him, even minimally, back to his cot again. She figured a big factor towards it must've been the fact that she knew Blue to be stubborn, and he probably would have relentlessly tried to get 73 to see things from his point of view. Even if only partially. Blue really had a knack for turning people around like that. She knew that first hand. Before she met Blue, she had been dealing with severe episodes of depression. She still faced them every once in a while if her mind got to digging up the past and throwing it at her full force when she was feeling even a little down. However, after she had met Blue, who always was beaming and willing to lend a hand to anybody, his endearing prose suddenly had her labeled as one of his best friends. And she held onto that title dearly. She would do next to anything for the little skeleton, which had proved to rear its ugly head yesterday when she had given in so easily to Blue's fanatical demand to continue to tend to 73. She just really hated to see the little guy anything but happy. "S-So, what are you p-planning on trying to do today?"

Blue inhaled deeply then, his rib cage expanding under his scrubs as his eyelights left Undihre's for a brief second. He finally let them trail back to the Fish Monster's now quizzical gaze. "Hey, Dire? You still trust me, right?" He asked as sweetly as he could manage, cocking his head to one side. He forced his eyelights to sparkle brightly as they trailed over his friend's quickly falling expression. "With dealing with Red, I mean." He finished, tittering gingerly.

Undihre gulped. Oh no. Not again. What did the little guy want now? She sighed out through her nostrils before finally answering his question with her own query. "What d-do you want this time, B-Blue? I already pulled out w-way too many stops on the matter y-yesterday, you know." She reminded him, although knowing full well that Blue was going to use her inability to decline him anything to his advantage.

"I would like to get permission for him to visit the courtyard." Blue answered quickly, before Undihre could say anything more. His smile nearly blinding Undihre as he seemed to anxiously await her response.

Undihre was the one to stand up this time in immediate dubiety. "Blue, I r-really don't think-!"

"He hasn't been able to see the light of day since his admittance here, Dire. It wouldn't even have to be for that long. Just an hour or so." Blue went to stand, but halted at Undihre's hand gesturing for him to remain seated. "I promise nothing will happen." His face lost the majority of its conviviality, but still managed to remain slightly upbeat.

"I u-understand that, Blue. However, my o-only fear is that he hasn't been allowed to g-go near anyone else in fear that he might do s-something horribly irreversible." She shook at the mere thought of any more damage being done by the red skeleton. "A lot of p-patients go out into the courtyard throughout the day, as w-well as various staff, and I just fe-"

"He's a patient here, too, Undihre. Sometimes I wonder if everyone just keeps forgetting that." Blue's voice sounded far from amused now, and his face lacked any sign of the previous cheerfulness it had held just minutes before. "He's my patient, Dire. I'm going to try and help him any way I can. He deserves just as much as any other human or monster to be allowed to roam, even if only for a short while."

"I'm n-not saying he doesn't, but he's been sh-shown to be physically t-truculent and I just feel tha-" She saw Blue's face fall, hurt clearly perceptible within it as he tore his eyelights away from her, looking at the haphazard shelf hanging crookedly on the wall to her left. She was grasping at straws here. "I know h-he's been cooped up in there since d-day one, but it's really just n-not a good idea r-righ-" She cringed as she saw Blue's attempt at a glare, but it fell short. His eyelights were a deep greyish azure. She flopped ungracefully back down into her swivel seat, her eyes wandering over her desk as a million thoughts flew around in her head. 

"Please, Dire." He pleaded, his voice barely a whisper. However, his eyelights had brightened a bit as he saw the cogs turning in his friend's head. Just a little more. He could do this.

Who was she kidding? It was inefficacious at this point. Undihre had already conjectured the outcome to this conversation since the start of it, as much as she tried to deny so in her mind. "I d-don't have the authority in m-making the final decision, b-but…" She looked up, staring straight ahead with a piercing sovereignty. "I'll talk w-with Dr. Liri at m-my lunch break." She glanced at her computer screen, the small analog clock in the corner providing her with the benumbing fact that that would be far sooner than she was ready for. Less than 13 minutes if she was to be exact. Oh Gods. 

Blue jumped up from his seat, falling forward over Undihre's desk in a tumultuous attempt of trapping her in a powerful hug. "Thank you, Dire! Thank you!" He teetered back on his heels as he twirled around, catching the knob of the office door as he turned his neck towards her direction again. "This will all be worth it in the end. I promise you." It wasn't a definite yes, but Blue had a gut feeling that everything was working in his favor. A guiling, but still very much genuine simper relishing his face. "Well, you'll know where I'll be!" He called out as he took up the bag he had left by her door again in his hand, hearing it slowly sliding shut behind him. He bounded blissfully down the hallway.

Undihre was stricken with how Blue managed to change his demeanor so drastically for any given situation. It was like a light switch. He had such a frightening ability in controlling his emotions like that. Half the time it gave off the impression that it was all just an act. However, Undihre knew undoubtedly that this wasn't the case. Blue's emotions and actions were always done with the utmost pragmatism and honesty. He just had a knack for knowing exactly what to say and do to get what he wanted. And it worked every time. The little skeleton truly was a force to be reckoned with. She doubted that patient 73 had any idea just how eloquent Blue really was, and found she was already growing eager at the thought of the ruffian finding out in the most confounding of ways.

Blue had figured that since his efforts at sidling into Red's room as quietly as possible was foiled in the most perfunctory of ways yesterday, that he would settle for a better alternative towards possibly waking the other today. He had the most axiomatic suspicion that Red already had enough trouble falling asleep. Especially if he was confounded to his bed like that for the past 8 days, at least until Blue had alleviated him of them yesterday. It was surely uncomfortable, and not to mention, Red hated the thought of even being in the clinic. This in mind, he gradually turned the handle, gently pushing the door a fraction of the way open in order to peek into the room before entering.

Fuck. When had he fallen asleep? Red glared over at the clock. 11:22 a.m. Well, that didn't fucking help any. Still, taking his splitting headache into consideration, he deduced that however long it was, it wasn't fucking long enough. Yesterday's events were foggy, but he still felt a gnawing fervor churning up deep in his soul that was pissing him the hell off. The entire night he'd sat, almost distressingly still as a dizzying concoction of feelings and thoughts, that even now he couldn't decipher, had vitiated his mind. Now, suddenly, he was waking up to his darkened room, the harsh white lights flickering on overhead as they detected movement. He blinked his sockets irately. He realized he'd still been awake when they had first shut off. That's how fucking deathly still he'd been after Blue had left. Ugh. Fucking hell. He caught the slightest motion from the front of the room, his eyelights moving to meet with tender blue ones. Ah. The sumptuous little angel had finally arrived. Red found himself superciliously watching the other's face as it peeked into the room, looking over his still very much stationary figure inquisitively. Although his skull was throbbing hard like no tomorrow, he found himself mildly more worried with how his soul was throbbing even harder. He relaxed his form once again, after realising that there wasn't an actual threat at the door, and let his usual cocky grin take its place. "Heh. No need to be so shy, babydoll." He sniggered audibly as he watched Blue fully step foot into the room, seeing his face flush from being caught. "Look at you sneaking in here, looking like a delicious little snack, huh?" His eyelights looking as though to devour the figure of the little skelly before him. "Guess you must've known I was starvin'." 

Blue, now standing fully before Red after he had found him peering into the room, blinked his sockets as he smiled with embarrassed mirth. So, Red was feeling robust enough to immediately start with the cocky behavior. Well, that was a good sign. For the most part anyways. He released a hushed chuckle from his mouth as his head shook back and forth in mock-up exasperation. "Well, if our roles were reversed, wouldn't you want to check to make sure I wasn't in a vulnerable position, such as asleep, before forcing yourself in?" He realized his mistake too late after the question left his mouth, blushing a deep blue. He coughed, clearing his throat as he waved it off. "Ya know what? Don't answer that." He turned and went about placing the bag upon the same counter as yesterday, pulling out a different container from the one he had brought before. He set it aside as he turned to face Red again, letting an amused look fall upon his features. "Speaking on a different note, I do actually have something for you to sink your teeth into." He offered plainly, before nearly cutting into his own sentence as he interpolated himself. "And before you even start, no, unfortunately for you, it's not me." He finished with an air of muted pomposity.

The kid was catching on to his way of words real quick. Even being able to counter each of his little comments like they were almost nothing. 'Almost' being the key word, as he still found the little skeleton's near almost always flushed face preemptively falling victim to them no matter what. Which came to be progressively more and more satisfying each time. At Blue's counter against himself not being the said 'snack' he was referring to, Red let his sockets droop slightly. Unfortunate for him, for real. A mock look of disappointment shone in his crimson eyelights. "Aw. What a bummer." He looked over the slightly larger container, wondering just what the blue skeleton had cooked up for him this time. "Huh. So you actually kept up this part of the bargain, huh?" He was fairly anxious in finding out what it was, but quelled the emotion as best as he could. Didn't need the little skelly knowing he was actually eager to know what he'd done for him. Even less, letting that sudden notion sink into his own head. "Makes me wonder, how'd it go with the fish bitch on making the impossible happen?" He raised a brow ridge as he asked. He doubted Blue would be able to walk his little self all over her again without consequence, but then again, he also surprisingly found himself wanting the little one to walk all over him half the time. So who knew just what the fuck the blue skelly was capable of.

"It is, isn't it?" Blue sighed dejectedly as he joked, teasingly to Red's mumbled despondency towards the lack of having the other as a meal. He thought it was quite fun tossing around licentious remarks back and forth between the other. Relishing in the fact that every once in a while he could astound even someone as brash and risqué as the larger skeleton. He also believed that Red found comfort in making the jokes, and Blue wanted nothing more than to have the red skeleton feel as comfortable as possible. Even if the concupiscent remarks came pouring out of said skeleton's mouth nearly every instant he opened it. As much as Blue saw how the larger tried his best to remain impervious, he found himself beaming as he saw the red eyelights linger over the container on the counter. He moved forward to begin unstrapping the others wrists from the cot. He cocked his head to the side, an unmistakably boastful look on his face. "Actually, as a matter of fact, it went exactly as I planned." The left wrist of the larger skeleton was free. "It's not a definite affirmation, but Undihre agreed to go speak with Dr. Liri on the matter nonetheless. Since she happens to be the one who has to give the final decision." He stepped back as the other was freed fully, giving Red some space to move around freely if he wished to.

There it was. The little sensual quip that was thrown back into his face was almost enough to make Red want to jump the little skeleton right then and there, as he worked on freeing him of his binds. The kid had no idea what Red could do to him. He could easily devour the little skelly, and would thoroughly enjoy every second of it. That thought alone had him almost missing the fact that the skeleton had answered his question about getting permission to go outside. Dr. Liri. She was the owner of this godforsaken building wasn't she? He'd only seen her his first day of admittance after he had woken up. "Holy shit. Really? The head honcho of this fucking place, huh?" Just from what little he'd seen of her, she had seemed like a fucking hard ass, honestly. So the fact that Blue managed to coax Undihre to be willing to go and speak with her on something as far-fetched as letting Red traverse the courtyard, where other patients and staff would inevitably be able to go near him, was incredibly impressive. "You really have a way with that mouth o' yours, dontcha?" He heaved himself off the cot, moving to tower over the little skelly as he placed his foreclaw under his chin, lifting his head so their eyelights could meet. "I'd like to find out just how far that talent o' yours really goes, sugar."

Blue managed to keep the red skeleton's gaze for a while, until finally he broke under it, his face lighting up the room to the point where the lights overhead looked dim in comparison. He moved his head away from the other's encroaching claw, turning to grab the container flusteredly. "You certainly have an interesting way with words yourself, Red." He commented flatly, before turning and refocusing his gaze back on the larger's face. "Since you're so insistent on using your unseemly mouth any chance you get, I'd rather you put it to some actual good use." He pushed the container towards the larger's claw, that still remained in place after Blue had torn himself away. "This is something a little different than yesterday. I don't make them as often since they take a lot of prep time, but seeing as I actually woke up early today, I decided to go for it. They're honestly one of my favorite things to make. Aheh." He shut his eyes as he let an inhibited smile grace his countenance. "I, um… hope you like them! You don't seem to be the picky type so… yeah." Chuckling lightly he hunched his shoulders a bit as he held out the food container bashfully.

Red had tried and failed to understand Blue and his forever oscillating character. The kid had an insane amount of reign over his emotions. So ultimately, as he did best, he decided to pretty much give up on reading into it too much. It still didn't stop his soul from reverberating in his chest at the sight of the little skelly being so resplendent towards him one second, and suddenly stumbling over his words with his ever growing blush the next. He'd never met anyone who was willing to stand toe to toe with him, and especially someone who easily turned all his vulgar humor against himself. It was exhilarating in a daunting sense. Then the way Blue still managed to show his happy-go-lucky colorful nature through it all, really had him reeling trying to catch up with it all in his skull. He failed to notice how his cocky smile had managed to reform into a slightly more serene one at Blue's sheepish act. He took the container, lifting the lid and tossing it aside carelessly. His brow bones furrowed as he took in what was in it. "Tacos?" That's what they appeared to be like, more or less, but with bacon, eggs and various other ingredients that resembled more breakfast-like food. Although they looked weird as hell, the smell wafting up from the little filled tortillas was fucking phenomenal. 

"Yeah! Breakfast tacos, to be exact!" Blue declared at Red's inquisitive look towards the container's contents. "Tacos are kinda my guilty pleasure. If I can even call it that. My brother just says I'm more devoted to 'Taco Tuesday' than most humans are about the religions they're all so invested in." He shrugged, laughing. "I'm not really able to take the time to prep stuff for really good tacos since I've started trying to work, as well as helping take care of my brother, so I started experimenting with simpler ingredients and different kinds of recipes!" Blue's wonted elation kept growing as he continued to blabber on. "These ones happen to be breakfast based. The filling is a mix of cheddar cheese, whipped eggs, bacon, and seasoned potatoes. Topped with cilantro, and a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. I made the shells myself, too! I like them a bit more crispy, so sorry if them being slightly charred is a bit of a washout for you…" He raised an arm, slowly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as he prattled. "Oh. Wowzers. Look at me just going on and on. Ahaha." He giggled abashedly, taking the hand from his neck and covering half of his face as he felt his magic burning it up. "Your praise yesterday just really motivated me to impress you. So, I'm just excited to have you taste them, I guess." He closed his eyes, pressing the hand covering half his face harder against it in a hopeless attempt at stopping his discomfiture.

How the fuck was this skelly so goddamn-?! Red suddenly found he had a very concerning urge to have himself taste the little blue skeleton instead. He was compelled forward by Blue's beguiling actions, forcing himself nearly up against the smaller's chest. This, in tandem, had Blue removing the hand from his face as he stepped back in time to Red's movements. The small skeleton was pressed back until he was flush against the counter behind him. Red towered over him as the little skelly seemed to almost close in on himself. He unceremoniously dropped the container onto the counter behind the smaller skeleton, the hand that had held it gripping the countertop roughly as his claws dug into the synthetic wood. His free hand seized hold of Blue's jaw once again, turning the smaller skeleton's flushed blue face up to his own slowly darkening one. His eyelights grew hazy as a predatory mien overtook his mug. His summoned ecto-tongue hung out the side of his mouth as he looked over the thoroughly trapped skelly below him. He could do it. He could take him right here. Taste him. Nothing was stopping him. He saw Blue shiver slightly under his gaze. Fuck yes. He'll taste every bit of the little skelly below him. Touch him. Tear him apa- He felt himself being abruptly pushed back. The claw he'd dug into the counter snapped back to harshly snatch up a small wrist hovering over his chest.

Stars. This was quickly getting out of hand. He learned firsthand the last few days that Red wasn't someone to take lightly. Especially in being in this kind of situation. Perhaps he had gone a little overboard with the little jokingly flirtatious retorts he'd tossed back at the larger skeleton before. Blue felt his spine connect with the white counter at the back of him. He swallowed dryly, folding in on himself as Red moved to loom over him. He watched as Red's left hand tossed the container aside, the larger's claws gripping the countertop afterwards, successfully trapping Blue in from that side. His face was forced to meet the hungry red eyelights hazily roaming over his smaller structure. He shuddered under the red skeleton as heavy breaths trickled down his neck. Blue had his hands clasped tightly over his rib cage, his soul thrumming hard as he looked for a way out of the increasingly worsening situation. He wound up doing the only thing that seemed plausible enough to counter the larger's invasion of his personal space. He reached out with his hand over Red's sternum, and firmly pushed Red back. As his wrist was snatched up by the other's claws, he straightened himself out now that he had more room. He smiled smugly up at the larger's vexed perplexity. "I'm sorry to say, Red, but I'm still not on the menu." He offered a mocking pout to accentuate his words. Slipping his hand out from the other's grasp once he felt it loosen, he used that time to turn around and gather the container into his hand again. He twirled back to glance up at Red disapprovingly, looking marginally affronted as he held his free hand to his chest dramatically. He waved the food about the larger's face, holding back his amusement at the other's stupor. "I know you're not one for being poised. Honestly though, you could at least handle the food I slaved about to make for you with a bit more care. It'll go to waste at this rate." He feigned a crestfallen appearance. "Do you really hate it that much?" He turned his head away, looking petulant.

Red was irked, but it was overwhelmed by shock in how forbearing Blue was being towards him. He knew the kid was growing steadily more comfortable in throwing cocksure statements and jokes back at him, but this was different. Red had literally backed him into a corner, full on ready to ravage the little skelly without another thought, but then Blue was pushing him away and smugly telling him off for it. He wasn't one who was used to being told off by someone so amiable, usually being able to use their ardor against them. Yet, here he was, being overpowered by the sickly sweet little skelly he nearly jumped when he had pushed him up against the counter. As much as he felt he should be, he wasn't angered in the slightest. If anything, he felt himself respecting the skelly for daring to be so fucking bold. Especially against a beast like Red, who had already shown Blue directly what he was capable of. Fucking Gods. Maybe he was right about the kid being fucking crazy, and maybe he was starting to like that part about Blue a whole fucking lot. Maybe. His bewilderment skyrocketed as suddenly the smaller was putting on a dramatic show about his discarded meal to Red. Unable to put his claw on a reason why, he found himself stuttering out an apology to it. "What the-? No! I still want to fucking eat it! I don't want it to go to waste or anything I just-" His mind finally caught up to him. This fucking little shit. "Wait a fucking second. You're fucking with me! You little shit!" Although each sentence was accentuated with a curse, he couldn't help from cracking up.

Blue plastered an astoundingly innocent frontage over his visage. He had his head tilted to the side in a questioning stance, but the smallest hint of a smile was stretching at the corners of his mouth. "Aww, what makes you say that, Red?" Before the larger skeleton even had a chance to slip in his, probably profane, answer, there was a knock at the door.

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This was her own fault. She knew that much. Darn her and her unfeasible ineptitude at arguing with the obstinate little skeleton. She had been pacing for nearly 10 minutes outside her boss's door, going over exactly how she was to go about asking the nonviable inquiry. This had done nothing to quell her uneasiness, actually doing the exact opposite. She felt her soul drop as the door before her opened.

"Holy-!" Dr. Liri staggered backwards into her office as she came face to face with Undihre. "Damn, Dire. Thank God we're in a medical facility, since you literally almost just gave me a goddamn heart attack. How long have you been standing out here?" She eyed the Fish Monster incriminatingly. The doctor knew she was usually quite the timid type, but this kind of behavior was out of character even for an introvert like her. 

"Oh! Jaxy! I-I'm so sorry!" She had reached out to try and help her startled friend. Once she was steady again, the Fish Monster moved back as her face reddened. "N-Not long! I w-was just deep in thought is a-all." She stepped aside allowing Jaxy move out into the hall to join her on their way to the break room. She walked shyly beside her boss, glancing over at her every once in a while as she bit her lip. Oh gosh. How did Blue manage to put her in such a taxing position every time?

"Hm." Dr. Liri looked over Undihre questioningly, her eyes narrowing as she tried to read what exactly had been on the others mind. If there was one thing Jaxy had realized after spending so much time with her Fish friend, it was that she could be read like a book. After a quick shuffle through what the possible problem could be, she surmised it probably had to do with a certain coworker. Or rather, which was more probable, a certain coworker's assigned patient. She decided to lay off from further interrogation, until they were finally seated in the breakroom. "Mind telling me what exactly you were thinking so strongly about that had you insistently glaring at my door like it insulted your very existence?"

Undihre nearly choked on her iced tea she had bought from the vending machine, as she went to join her friend/boss by their break table in the corner of the room. She should have been expecting Dr. Liri to cut right to the chase. That's just how she was. She could read people just as well as Blue could. It was a talent Undihre found herself envying sometimes on just how on the nose the two managed to pinpoint almost exactly what was going through someone's head. She tried, and failed, to swallow down the lump that had lodged itself in her throat. No point in stalling any longer. Or, there would have been no more stalling if her mind had actually managed to catch up with her thoughts. "I-I had a um… W-Well, you see i-it doesn't really h-have er… Th-The thing i-is-"

"It has to do with Blue, doesn't it?" Jaxy interjected, before she'd have to suffer through Undihre drowning herself in a pool of the broken words pouring out from her mouth. "You know I'm still not the happiest with the fact that he so stubbornly demanded to work with 73 after that whole fiasco." She had known the larger red skeleton to have quite the brutish demeanor, but after hearing that Blue had been nearly choked out, her hopes on helping the ruffian had diminished greatly. Maybe that's the underlying reason why she hadn't forced Blue to switch patients though. The simple fact that he still had hope for such a brazen monster that no one else deemed viable to believe in anymore. How Blue wholeheartedly devoted himself to 73 without the least bit of fear, was so incredibly commendable. It was an aspect she had easily been able to see in the small skeleton Monster when she had met him on the fateful day his brother was almost taken from him. Even through all the chaos and suffering, he powered through, looking to lend a hand or help anywhere it was needed. It was one of the reasons she had agreed so easily to his request for her to train him in menial medicine and medical procedures. He was one strong son of a bitch, if Jaxy had anything to say about the little guy. "I'm not going to force him to be assigned to someone different if he's still insistent on helping patient 73, however I will intervene if something just as bad as what had occurred on Tuesday happens again."

Undihre nodded. Just as she had suspected. Jaxy was able to hit the nail on the head without even so much as a confirmation from herself. It probably didn't help that all Undihre had been able to talk about as of late was what position Blue had forced them to put him back in. She nodded again at Dr. Liri's final comment. She, too, had promised herself to intervene at a moment's notice if anything seemed out of order with Blue and 73. She couldn't stand to see Blue unconscious again. Or Gods forbid, something worse. She turned her head to glance out the window to her left, it showed a grand view of the small flourishing courtyard. Her soul did a faint flip as she gathered up the courage to spit out something actually comprehensible. "Y-Yes. He had quite the r-request again."

Jaxy finally took a sip from her latte as she pursed her lips. Of course he did. The little bugger knew exactly how to force Undihre to her knees with his ability to speak and express himself with an air of confidence that was almost terrifying on its own. She licked her lips as she saw Undihre meet her gaze. "Right. Why would letting him work alongside the same skeleton that strangled him unconscious, and allowing him to undo that same said skeleton's restraints again after the fact, be enough?" She let out a half-hearted chuckle at the thought of how the sweet little skeleton managed to easily work his way towards getting whatever he wanted. "So what is it now?"

"H-He um…" She glanced out to the courtyard as if daring the place in question to answer her boss for her. "It h-has to do w-with…" She felt her face begin to sweat as her gaze out the window intensified.

Jaxy followed her gaze out the window. Ah. The little courtyard she had fought tooth and nail to have installed even with the little amount of money she had gathered up after purchasing the place as a whole. It wasn't the biggest or most impressive, but the little garden trailing through it was thriving and quite beautiful to look at. The patients loved going out there. Oh. Oh no. It couldn't be. But then again, Blue was relentless when it came to these sorts of things. She inhaled deeply, Undihre turning her way once more. "You're not telling me that he's asking what I think he's asking, are you?" She tilted her head towards the view of the courtyard, as if to exemplify what she meant.

Undihre decidedly answered with the smallest of nods as she fumbled with the iced tea in her hands. Her lip becoming the victim of a very harsh bite from one of her canines.

Jaxy let her head fall into her hands as she nearly collapsed over the table. She shook her head, staring blankly down at the light blue tabletop. The color wasn't stirring up the best of her feelings at the moment. "Breaks are supposed to be relaxing, you know? That's why they're labeled as 'breaks' and not 'I think I'm getting an aneurysm'." Her fingers began to rub at her temples, in an attempt to quell the migraine she felt coming on. "I don't know how these past few days whenever I go on break, I leave feeling like doing a heart transplant would've been more calming."

"He l-laughed." Undihre murmured softly.

"What?" Jaxy lifted her head up from it's spot between her hands. She wasn't so sure what Dire was on about. Who laughed? Hell. She could laugh herself, at just how much her position in being the owner of this facility liked to kick her in the ass.

Undihre's gaze had drifted back to looking out into the courtyard as she sighed. "Y-Yesterday, Blue d-didn't go home at his s-scheduled time. So I d-decided to go and find out w-why." She turned back towards Jaxy, her eyes searching the other's as she continued. "I overheard B-Blue talking w-with 73 and even m-managing to make him l-laugh." She twiddled her thumbs as she placed her iced tea back onto the table. "And i-it wasn't one o-of those forced laughs w-we heard from him b-before. This was s-something different. Something I th-think we b-both though he was incapable of d-doing." She looked down to her now clasped hands. "It s-sounded so genuine."

Dr. Liri sat in silence as Undihre spoke. She let her hands, that were still propped up on the table, cross over one another atop it instead. She closed her eyes as she drew in a slow breath, letting it out through her pursed lips as she turned to look out into the courtyard. There were quite a few patients already roaming about, or sitting on the few benches scattered throughout. "Blue really likes pulling at my leg, doesn't he?" Her eyes moved to scan over the time on the clock by the break room entrance. Less than 2 minutes left. She stood, taking her now cold latte into one of her free hands, holding out the other for her friend to take. "And not to mention, pulling at all your strings, too, huh?"

Undihre took her friend's hand as she pulled her up to her feet. Her eyes grew half-lidded, and she nodded silently. Jaxy refused to comment on what she said. It made sense. There was no way her boss would even condone the thought of letting a monster like 73 out with all those other patients, especially after everything he had done. She found herself mentally apologizing to Blue as both women began the walk back to their offices.

Jaxy turned around once she was at her office door, groaning as she rubbed at her head. "Dire." She called out to her friend who had begun her tread back to her own office, watching as the Fish Monster turned around inquisitively. "Tell Blue he's causing a hell of a lot more trouble than he's worth." She spun around and opened her door, but just held it ajar as she stood in place. "And that he's not to leave 73's side no matter what, when they head out there." With that, she walked into her office, letting the door swing shut behind her.

She was flabbergasted. Undihre blinked as she watched her boss head inside her office without another word. And in turn, Undihre whirled herself around and began sprinting down the hall towards room 348.

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Blue offered a comforting smile to Red after the larger gave an uneasy glance to the door. Placing down the container he was holding on the counter again, he ambled over to the door, opening it halfway as he took in Undihre's red face and nearly doubled-over heaving form. "Oh stars!" He propped the door open with his leg as he stood on his toes to place his hands on his friend's shoulders comfortingly. "Are you okay, Dire? You're really out of breath." He chuckled softly, but light concern was still plastered over his visage.

Undihre sucked in a deep breath as Blue rubbed gentle circles into her shoulders. She straightened herself, watching Blue's hands fall back to his sides. She glanced at patient 73, meeting his seething glare at her. She swallowed hard, before flicking her eyes down to meet Blue's own gentle eyelights. Nodding briskly, she cleared her throat, clasping her hands together and twiddling her thumbs as her face grew even more scarlet in color. "I r-really have to get b-back to work, but I-I just came t-to tell you that Dr. Liri s-says that you are to remain with h-him at all times while out th-there." She began to move away from the door, finding she really wasn't liking the murderous look 73 kept focused on her. She went to turn and leave Blue to deal with 73, but stopped herself for just a moment. "O-Oh! She also t-told me to tell you that y-you're causing a hell of a lot m-more trouble th-than you're worth." She added, but the words held no ill intent as she smiled softly back at the little skeleton.

Blue let himself relax further once Dire had evened her breathing, watching as his friend stood straight again. His brow bones raised as Undihre explained Dr. Liri's rule on letting Red outside. Yes! He knew Undihre would be able to get the permission for him! He'd have to show his thanks tenfold once his, and her own, shift was over. For now, he settled on giving the brightest smile, letting his eyelights sparkle as he looked over his friend. "Of course!" Just as Undihre turned to leave, he laughed aloud at her recollected final comment from Dr. Liri. He cocked his head to the side, rolling his eyelights as he waved Undihre off. "Tell her I already know I am." He gently slid the door closed before turning to Red again. "See? I knew everything would work in my favor! It rarely ever doesn't." Blue laughed at his truthful assertion. It was true. He nearly almost always, without question, got what he wanted. He gathered up the food container again, snapping the lid back onto it and replacing it back into his bag. "Although I was hoping you would have eaten them already, we can go and have lunch down in the courtyard now instead. I have something else for you, too, but that can wait till later."

This was fucking new. Red knew he had already detested the fucking Fish bitch when he was first brought here, but for some reason, his animosity towards her skyrocketed when he saw how Blue interacted with her. The little skeleton looked genuinely worried for the Fish Monster gasping past the doorway, and even went as far as to massage the bitch's shoulders in an easing fashion. It made magic bile rise up in his throat, rousing quite an unfavorable resentment at the sight. Why though? He didn't give a shit who the little skelly interacted with, or how. Even if the blue skeleton should have had all of his unrequited attention zoned in on Red instead of that fucking Fish whore. He snarled lowly, leering at her leaving form through the partly opened doorway. Good fucking riddance. His face contorted back to it's more hubristic form as Blue was finally looked his way again. Oh yeah. That's why the Fish bitch had popped in to begin with. His sockets widened as he watched Blue gather up the scattered objects on the counter. He sniggered, his smirk broadening as the small skelly laughed at his pretentious comment. He had no doubts that the blue skelly wasn't lying when he said things usually went his way. The kid knew how to get what he wanted, that's for sure. "Holy shit. You actually did it. You're quite the devious little angel, eh babydoll? Guess I was right about that mouth o' yours." Red winked debauchedly down at the other. Woah. What? The kid had something else for him? His brow bones furrowed in question. The kid already held up his end of the deal, what else would he have for him? His soul thudded against his ribs. "Something else for me, huh?" He let his claws reach out to stroke at the smaller's cheek desirably. "Hope it has something to do with what you so rudely interrupted me from earlier." He let out a rough cackle.

Blue huffed lightly through his nasal cavity at Red's immediate return back to his unrefined behavior. He swiftly twisted his face out of the larger's grasp for the third time already, letting the white bag hit his femur as he spun around to open the door out to the hall. "And you're quite the hedonist, aren't you?" He made way for Red to step out into the hallway along with him, the larger shoving his claws into his short's pockets dismally. Blue sighed softly as he led the way to the elevators towards the far end of the hallway. He waved and smiled appeasingly towards some of the other patient's and staff's weary gazes at the two skeletons traversing down the hall. A few actually made an effort to step further out of their way at seeing Red. He pushed the button once they were at the elevators. Blue felt a bit dismayed at their apprehensive behavior towards his patient, but could understand it. Once the metal doors opened up to them, he let Red shuffle in first before joining him and pushing the button to the first floor. He hummed a bit to himself as they descended. He glanced over at Red who had his eyelights fixed on the metal doors of the elevator. "You probably heard Dr. Dire when she was at the door, but just to reiterate, make sure to stick by me when we're out there, okay?" He proffered to the other skeleton, smiling tenderly.

Their fucking stares. Ugh. He fucking hated every one of the Monsters and Humans he passed by in the hall. He discerned that he hated them even more at the sight of Blue merrily waving and smiling at them all. He clenched and unclenched his claws that he'd shoved into his deep pockets, grinding his teeth as he shot each and every one of the fuckers a vicious sneer. He reveled in the fact that they quickly went to move out of his way as he walked down the hall with Blue. Good. Once they were in the elevator, he kept his gaze focused in front of him, the feelings from how Blue interacted with Undihre and the other beings in the hall mixing up a weird sensation in his unconjured stomach. He found himself relaxing a bit though as Blue's humming filled the silence between the two. Red led his attention back to the smaller skelly as he heard him speak up. He smirked, narrowing his eyelids lecherously as he laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I heard. Follow ya around like the dog I am." He leaned forward to whisper against the side of the little skelly's skull. "Should I start calling ya 'Master', too?" He breathed down the other's neck.

Blue couldn't help the shiver down his spine at Red's hot breath trailing down his neck. Great. Now the entire elevator was lit in a light blue at his magic dusting his cheekbones. The doors opened and he paced out of the elevator, waiting until Red was right up beside him again before they began walking around the elevators towards the back. "The only thing even remotely equivalent that I'd be accepting of you calling me is 'Master Chef', at least after you finally try my tacos and give me your opinion." He quipped back in response. Once finally around the elevator shafts, they came to a large glass door filtering light down over the tile flooring. The courtyard garden could be seen flourishing beyond it. Blue shook his head as he eyed the larger skeleton, placing his hands on the metal push bar on the door and hoisting it open. "And you're not a dog, Red." He chastised the larger for his choice of words, breathing in the fresh air as they stepped out into the courtyard. He looked up into Red's eyelights, placing a hand on his hip. "I'm just requesting you stay with me because I don't want the fact that now that you're finally able to breathe some fresh air being all for naught if something goes wrong."

The crisp air hit his nasal cavity, and he sighed placidly. Fuck. It'd been a long while since he'd even felt a cool breeze against his bones. It was nice. He snickered gruffly as Blue countered his sensuous tripe. Master Chef. Heh. He could make that work. Especially if he had gotten to taste the skelly like he'd wanted to earlier, the name would've made a hell of a lot of sense if the blue skelly tasted nearly as good as he looked. Red decided that was something he still wanted to find out. But it could wait for now. His eyelights looked over the brush before him, following Blue further out into it. He laughed again as the skelly chastised him for his self degrading comment. It was real easy to let his levity out when the little one was around. "I'd beg to differ, but yeah, I get that part. I'm just saying-" He got up in the blue skeleton's face again. "I wouldn't mind ya dragging me around on a leash like ya own me, dollface."

Good thing no one was near this entrance to the courtyard. He wasn't sure he could handle having someone see how flustered he was getting while Red kept up the titillating remarks. Blue began to lead them over to one of the free benches scattered about the courtyard, plopping himself down on it as he placed the bag down on the ground. He gestured for Red to sit as well. "We're out in a public area now, you know? Yet, you still insist on acting so crude." He let his lids droop down while he gave the other an unamused look, but it brightened almost instantly as he chuckled at the gall of the red skeleton. "Besides, I don't think I'd be up for doing such a thing regardless." He himself would never be near as comfortable spouting such suggestive comments aloud for anyone to hear. He leaned closer to the larger skeleton sitting beside him as he spoke in a hushed tone. "At least not right now, you dirty boy." Red sure had a talent for making Blue try regardless it seemed. He leaned back as if he didn't just say anything prurient. "I hope you don't mind if I eat with you. The last few days I haven't had a chance to make myself anything for lunch, but since I accidentally made extra today, I have some tacos of my own." Blue giggled softly as he pulled two containers from the bag. "Okay. It wasn't really an accident, but I just really like to make these. Plus, I didn't get a chance to eat too many this morning." He handed one of the containers to Red as he relaxed his spine back against the wood of the bench.

Alright. Red was already having a hard time holding himself back from earlier, but Blue just kept fucking pushing him to the edge. His soul panged hard in his chest at Blue's lewd name calling that he whispered in his earhole. Oh fuck. What he wouldn't do to hear the precious little angel say that a million times over. He swallowed down the drool building up in his mouth as Blue prattled on. Red inhaled deep, letting it out his nasal cavity as he reluctantly tried to quell the magic building up in his lower regions. He scratched at the crack running along his skull as Blue leaned back on the bench. "You can't go labelin' me as a hedonist if you're gonna start feeding me delicious little comments like that, 'Master' chef." He laughed as he relaxed back against the bench as well, throwing the lid off the container and taking a filled tortilla into his claw. "Nah. I don't give a shit. It'll help me see just how much you can swallow." Speaking on that, he took the taco as a whole into his mouth, chewing noisily. His eyelights lit up as the taste hit his ecto-tongue. He hastily grabbed another, shoving it into his watering maw. "Holy fuck! These are fucking amazing!" He inhaled the remaining three in the blink of an eyesocket.

Blue hadn't even managed to swallow his first bite before he almost gagged on it at Red's labeling. He brought the back of his hand up to cover his mouth as he giggled behind it, forcing himself to gulp down the portion in his mouth. "Ahaha! Oh my stars!" His laughing died down into a light-hearted groan as Red spout out another indelicate comment. He then continued to nibble at his taco afterwards. He watched anxiously as Red took an entire taco into his mouth, Blue's eyesockets widened comically. His soul felt as though it was soaring at Red's words, watching joyously as Red devoured his remaining tacos rapidly. He flushed a deep azure as Red licked his claws clean. "You really think so? I haven't really tried this recipe before." Blue's voice was demure as he finished off the rest of his first taco. "So, it really makes me happy you liked them so much!"

"Hell yeah! I mean bacon and cheese are a fucking match made in heaven, but I've never tasted them together like that. Damn." He rested his claw, once he'd cleaned it of the remnants of the food fit for Gods, against his abdomen. Red let his skull fall back against the bench as he looked over the radiant little skelly beside him. He matched Blue's bright smile with his own sharp-toothed one. "You'd make for some real good wifey material with skills like that." He stuck his tongue out at the smaller's rolling eyelights. "Seriously though, they were real fucking good. You got talent, kid." He ran the back of his claws against Blue's cheekbone as he watched him. "In more ways than one. Heh." Probably in a lot more ways that Red really wouldn't mind finding out for himself.

"Oh. Wow. Thanks so much." Blue said flatly at Red's 'wifey' comment, but the smile never left his face. It wouldn't. He was way too happy with how much Red had liked his new creation. His face burned as he felt Red's claws return to his face for the fourth time that day. He shook the invasive claw off as he replaced the lid back on his own container, putting it aside. His voice lowered to a luscious hush again. "Oh, naughty boy. You have no idea." He flicked his own tongue out at the other before taking up the empty container. He took up his own as well, putting both back into the bag, but not before taking out a large aluminum wrapped dish from the bottom of it. "Well, now you've got me all hyped up to know what you'll think about this!" He placed the covered dish over his lap. "You did say you were in the mood for something sweet after all." He winked up at the larger, before beginning to peel off the aluminum.

Red nearly fell off the bench at Blue's flirtatious jipe. He had to give himself some credit here. He hadn't popped a boner. Not yet anyways. But if Blue kept this going, he wasn't so sure if he could keep his magic from flaring up fully. Or if he'd even want to stop it from doing so. He eyed the wrapped dish laid out over the smaller skelly's femurs, thinking that he'd much rather engorge himself on what was lying under it rather than whatever was on the plate itself. Fuck. He was really falling hard for- No. NO. He wasn't falling for anything. It was just that he hadn't gotten laid in fucking ages. That's all. It had nothing to do with how seductive the little blue angel looked at him when spouting out the teasingly succulent quips at him. And definitely not how every time the blue magic dusted the little skelly's face he could feel his soul reverberate pleasurably against his sternum. He felt his eyesocket twitch as his face darkened to a deep crimson. God fucking dammit. He shook his head trying to clear it as he finally focused back on the blue skelly's gaze. "Well, if you're what's spread out on that plate, then ya fucking nailed it, sweet cheeks." 

Blue closed his eyes as he exhaled deeply. Red was relentless when it came to being vulgar. He shook his head as he gave a half-suppressed laugh. "How many times do I have to tell you, Red? I'm not on the menu." He finished unwrapping the plate of the foil, a sweet scent wafting into the air as the dessert was revealed. It was a pie. He had been nervous when making it for he had never baked anything besides tortilla shells before, or the occasional cookies or brownies. Never something like a pie. However, he happened to see some discounted fruit while grocery shopping, and couldn't help himself. The red berries had reminded him of the larger skelly. "I hope you don't mind cherry pie. It's my first time ever baking something other than simple cookies and stuff."

"Aw, come on. A man can dream, can't he?" Red proposed bumptiously. He felt his tongue subconsciously summon in his mouth again as he took in the aroma of the fruit-filled pastry. Looking over the pre-sliced pie sitting atop Blue's legs, he couldn't help but notice no slices were missing. He figured the skelly would have made the dessert for himself and his brother and have brought the remains for Red. Except this didn't seem to be the case. "You made that for me?" His inquiry was low as it tumbled out from his mouth, bordering beholden. Red realized his tone, and cleared his throat, letting it return to something more normal for him. "I mean it's not as good as gettin' to 'eat cake' like I was hopin', but yeah it'll work." He winked, letting his grin widen.

Blue's face fell a bit. Oh. He liked cake better. That made sense. He tilted his head in confusion at the wink the other gave, but apologized solemnly. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't have any ingredients for cake at home..." He had grabbed a few paper plates from the white bag, carefully trying to plate a slice for each of them. "I hope you'll still like it regardless though. I could try and make cake for you next time, though!" He held out the plate to Red, who took it into his claws and placed it on his own lap. "What kind of cake do you like?" Blue asked enthusiastically. He enjoyed getting to know the red skeleton a bit more like this.

No way. Red raised a claw to his forehead as he hunched over, his body heaving as he bellowed out hefty laughs. The kid knew his way around some sexual innuendos, but not such a blatant slang term? That was so fucking cute. "Hahaha! No that's haha- not what I was really aha- trying to say." He wiped a claw from his hand resting on his skull at his eyesockets to clear them of imaginary tears from laughing so hard. "Let me fix that. Let's change it to somethin' more along the lines of, I was hopin' to put 'my icing' on 'your cake', if ya get what I'm sayin'." He held his claws out, the palms of them open as he cocked his head towards the smaller.

Oh. OH. OH STARS. Blue's jaw nearly hit the grass as he finally came to understand just what Red meant by 'his cake'. His face glowed brightly at his embarrassment. Of course he would have meant it in such a vulgar manner! It was Red after all. The King of Indecency, as Blue was quickly coming to refer to him as in his head. He pouted at the larger skeleton, his blush threatening to cover his entire face as he threw his most admonishing look at him. He had said that so loudly, too! "Red! There are children out here, you know!" He curled in on himself as he chastised the red skeleton beside him. Taking the plastic forks he had passed out to both Red and himself, he shoveled a small bite of his pie into his mouth as he looked away from the arrogantly bawdy monster beside him.

Gods that reaction was perfect. He could see everything instantly click in the little skelly's head as his face lit up harshly. Red had been nearly howling with laughter at Blue's contorted face. Then Blue was sheepishly scolding him, and he thought he was going to pass out from how hard he was laughing. It died down finally as he watched how Blue refused to meet his eyelights. "Aw, come on, babydoll." He leaned his shoulder against the smaller blue skeleton. "I mean, I wouldn't mind if they watched as I attempted to, anyways." His smirk upturned at how Blue snapped his head back to look at him, and he stifled the laughter in his throat. He nearly shoved his entire slice of pie into his gob. Managing the best mock innocent look he could manage, he wiped at the cherry juice dripping down his chin. "What?"

Just as Blue was about to berate the larger monster on his disgusting declaration, and way of eating, he was interrupted by a soft bark. He glanced over to the opening of where a small trail that led into the courtyard garden outstretched. A small Dog Monster was standing at the edge of it, her tail wagging as her bright brown eyes met Blue's eyelights. "Oh! Dogella!" He stood suddenly, placing his plate down, as the little Dog child came running up to him.

"Blue!" She wrapped her fluffy arms around the blue skeleton. They only managed to fully encapture Blue for his lack of a wider figure. "I thought I heard you! I've missed you!"

Blue knelt down to be at eye level with the smaller Monster. "I've missed you, too! You look so much better! Have you gotten taller?" He proffered in exaggerated surprise as he pat her head, rubbing gently between her ears.

"You think so?!" Dogella bounced on her hind legs, her tail wagging so fast it looked as though it could propel her into the air. The Dog Monster glanced behind the blue skeleton as her eyes came to rest on the larger one behind him. "Who is that?"

Okay. He was getting real fucking tired of everyone fucking interrupting Blue's and his time together. His eyelights nearly disappeared as Blue left his side to kneel down in front of the Dog child. His teeth clenched painfully as he watched Blue run his hand over her furry head and scratch at her fluffy ears. He'd never thought he'd think to himself how he wished he was the one who had fur and ears in that moment. One of his claws gripped at the edge of the bench tightly, digging into the wood easily. His pinpricks of eyelights never leaving the scene of the child and Blue in front of him. The Dog child was suddenly looking at him, and it took all his willpower to not pick her up right then and throw her across the courtyard.

"Oh, that's Red!" Blue piped up. He stood then, looking down at Dogella with a gentle smile. "He's a friend of mine. Would you like to say hi to him?" He took Dogella's paw and walked her over to where Red had hunkered down on the bench.

Red's eyelights flickered darkly as Blue brought the little Dog girl over to him. He barely lifted his head from where it had lowered, which gave him a perfect view of how Dogella paused shakily. That's right. Fucking little shit. His teeth ground against each other audibly as the little ball of fur stood before him, silent.

Blue noticed how Dogella was looking over the larger red skeleton wearily. He chuckled lightly as he knelt beside her, scratching at her ears with his free hand. "I know he looks a bit intimidating, but he's not that bad. I promise." He offered lightly as he looked over her apprehensive features.

Red leaned forward then, bringing his face closer to the little Dog Monster as she visibly shied away from him. "Aw, what's wrong?" He offered a viscous smile at the little dog girl. "Are ya scared o' me?" He tilted his head as he further closed in on her now trembling form. Perfect. His voice came out dangerously low as his now deep red eyelights bore into her fearful brown eyes. His brow bones furrowed as his face contorted to a cruel sneer. "You should be." 

Blue was taken aback by Red's sudden change of disposition, but before he could manage to comment on it, Dogella was ripping her paw from his grip and running back to the garden entrance. He got to his feet quickly, hoping to run to her and quell her fright of the larger skeleton.

Dogella turned around once she was at the beginning of the garden path. She looked over Red's still seething figure before looking back at Blue uneasily. "I don't like your friend, Blue." She took off back through the garden without another word.

Well that was certainly uncalled for. Blue looked down at the still hunched skeleton before him. He crossed his arms over his chest disapprovingly, tapping his foot softly against the grass beneath his boots. "That wasn't very nice of you." He berated the larger Monster softly. 

Red scoffed, catching Blue's distressed eyelights on him. He tore his own eyelights away after seeing his reproached appearance. Fucking little dog shit. Fucking ruined everything. "Well, I'm not really renowned for being the most fucking pleasant Monster around." He refused to look at Blue again, leaning back against the wood of the bench, his head still hanging low.

Blue shut his eyelids gently, drawing out an exasperated sigh. Red wasn't comfortable around other Monsters or Humans. He knew that. He figured maybe Monster children would be different, but based on the scenario that just played out, he deduced that theory to be false. He glanced at the large industrial clock over the door they had come through earlier. 4:07 p.m. They had spent quite a bit of time in the courtyard it seemed. At least the majority of their time out here had been enjoyable. Disregarding the last part with Dogella of course. He'd have to apologize to Doganna and Dogamin once he got the chance. He let a soft grin plaster over his visage as he looked back at the still slouching monster on the bench. "Well, my shift will be over in an hour. We spent quite a bit of time out here." He gathered the scattered plates, wrapping the pie back in it's foil. "We should head back up, okay?" 

"Yeah. Whatever." Red got to his feet quite ungracefully as he shoved his tightly closed claws into his short's pockets. He began striding over to the glass door leading back into the building, making Blue have to sprint to catch up to him. He remained deathly silent as they turned the corner to the elevators. Once the metal doors opened up for the two Monsters, he pressed himself towards the back of the metal box as it began to ascend. His dim eyelights remained trained in on the metal doors the entire ride up.

Blue had awkwardly kept the silence between them, not really sure what to say. He felt a bit guilty at trying to force Red to introduce himself to Dogella. Although the way he had reacted was in no way commendable, it was still Blue's fault for prying at the skeleton's already shoddy view of others. Their silence was accentuated as they began to walk back down the hall towards the end, where room 348 was tucked away. The voices of the other staff and patients had died down again as they walked in tandem, quickly making the silence overbearing for Blue. As they neared the door to Red's room, he finally found his voice. "I'm sorry for doing that to you. I know how you feel about other Monsters and beings in general." He let Red walk into the room before entering himself. "I wouldn't take what she said to soul either. I know you're not as bad as everyone else may see you." He tittered delicately.

Red slumped himself down on the dishevelled sheets of the cot once he had shuffled into the room again. His head tilted to one side as he insisted on keeping his eyelights from catching Blue's own. He barked out an empty laugh at Blue's words. "You're fucking hilarious." There was no trace of hilarity to be found within the sentence. Red snapped his mouth shut with no further context before the room fell silent again.

Blue looked over Red's slumped figure questioningly. He was? He doubted the larger hadn't meant it to be anything but blatantly sarcastic if that emotionless laugh was anything to go by. "I… Um… What do you mean?" He muttered softly against the suffocating silence surrounding the Monsters.

"I mean. You're. Fucking. Hilarious." Red spat. His neck cracked grossly as he rested his chin in his palm, finally looking towards Blue. His red eyelights were dimly flickering as he spoke with venom dripping at the end of each word. "What are you? A fucking babybones?"

Oh no. Not this tone again. He chose his next words carefully, still very much disliking the way Red threw his words at him like insults. "I'm not too sure what you're trying to get at here. I can assure you, I'm not a babybones, no." Blue tried to read Red's character, but it was difficult with how every time he chanced at meeting his red eyelights, the other tossed his gaze elsewhere. "What is it, exactly, that you're finding so amusing anyhow?"

Red had begun tapping at the plastic bar on the cot with the tips of his claws, his other hand still holding his face up. He rolled his eyelights at Blue's innocent composure, growling under his breath. "You fucking sure about that? Cause I'm finding the fact that you still hold onto such childish ideals like 'everyone can be good', pretty fucking funny." He dropped the hand at his chin, letting his claws grip at the plastic bars on either side of the cot as he allowed Blue to gaze into his own tiny eyelights for once. "Are you that fucking hopeful for everyone like that? If so, that's foolishly fucking fatuous." His claws began to scratch at the plastic beneath them. "And calling me a 'friend'? I almost fucking jumped you, fully intent on ravishing your bony ass earlier." He let his eyelids fall to slits. "I'm far from being anything even remotely 'friendly'. And you're a fucking idiot for even thinking there's a trace of 'good' somewhere inside my fucked up soul." He grimaced in a distasteful manner at the little skelly. "The world isn't fucking black and white, kid. Not everything is so happy-go-lucky like how you so desperately try and see it."

So that's what this was about. Blue's eyelids had fallen half-lidded as he stood stock-still listening to Red's malicious ranting. That's what was so funny to him, huh? Well, Blue certainly didn't feel a bit of amusement with how Red viewed his choice of perspective on the world. He wasn't an idiot. He knew the world was cruel and unforgiving. He nearly lost his brother because of that fact. Red had no right to assume that Blue's position was wrong. Red had no idea what he was fighting against. What he was fighting for. "You think I don't know that?" His voice sounded more irate than he meant it to come off as. However, he didn't choose to fix it this time. "I already know how the world is. Sure, I've lived my life underground for most of it, but even still, I wasn't living under a damn rock the entire time. I almost lost my brother to the cold hard fact that the world is far from rose-colored, like you're so blatantly assuming I see it as." He moved closer to look evenly over the red skeleton, his eyelights a stern blue boring into the other's. "Well then. I apologize for so wrongly deciding to still believe that there's good in both Monsters and Humans alike. I know not everyone may have good in them, but that doesn’t mean I won’t hope for those that do to try and work towards bettering themselves." He clenched his hands into small fists by his side as he continued. "I've dealt with disgusting stares, with outspoken accusations, and muttered hatred behind my back. I've dealt with the fact that nearly no one was willing to help save my brother as he was literally falling down in the middle of the street for everyone to see. Yet, I still choose to follow my 'childish' views, because I want to." He cast his eyelights away after what felt like eons. "Because I want to believe in others. No matter who they are." He forced Red to meet his eyelights again, his light blue filtering a tremendous amount of hidden oppression through to the red ones. "And I'd very much rather choose to believe in the 'naive' ideation that the world can change, rather than go through my life with the miserable concept that no matter what I do nothing good will come of it." He exhaled sharply, the angry front he had taken on was extremely taxing for him. "I know not everyone may be able to change for the better. I also realize that I can't be the only one to try and change them. But, I refuse to allow that to diminish my hope for anyone. People can talk down to me, spit in my face, and whatever else helps them sleep at night, but it still won't change how I think. It's just who I am. So, even if everyone around me insists that my outlook is too hopeful or borderline immature, it doesn’t matter." He spoke this so matter of factly, that he barely saw Red’s reaction to it. A tiny smile graced his features as he looked over the larger, now very visibly distraught, skeleton before him. “Because I’m just as stubborn as everyone says I am. And I won’t listen.”

He was pretty sure time had stopped. For a long while at least. Blue had kept his eyelights trained on his own faded red all whilst holding that solemn smile on his face. The only factor that led towards Red realizing that the world was still very much moving around him, was the ticking of the wall clock droning on to his left. He was also quite certain that his soul had dropped out of his chest and was being squashed along with all the other vicious shit he had spouted at the little skelly. The beats coming from his within his rib cage felt so faint as he shakily kept his gaze on Blue. He was such a fucking asshole. He'd already known he was a fat repulsive cunt of a Monster, but never had he felt like this before. His mouth was agape, moving up and down as if to try and speak, but no words would come. He'd literally lost the ability to try and choke out anything even remotely helpful to try and reverse what he'd just fucking spat out like the fucking trash he was. It was like a really fucked up thing that he’d read once in a book whilst stuck in his own part of the underground. Like, sound torture or something? Just the ominous ticking of the clock in the background and nothing else. He already could feel himself losing his mind as that remained the only sound in the room between the two of them. He felt his soul jump, reassuring him that it was still in his chest, as a soft buzzing emitted from Blue’s hip. He flinched harshly when the little blue skelly suddenly shoved his hand into the pocket of his scrub pants to try and fish out whatever had made the noise.

Blue pulled out the little blue phone from his pocket, tapping at the screen’s lock until it showcased a picture of his older brother and himself smiling whilst standing outside their old house back in the Underground. He had taken it right before they had come to the surface, as a sort of memoir of the place he had called home for so long. He saw the new notification at the top of the home screen. It was a text message. From Papy. ‘hey, bro. just wanna make sure you’re planning on coming home tonight. it’s getting a bit late. don’t want me calling up muffet to drop off some cafe food for me again, do ya? text me once you get this please.’ Blue looked over to the clock. 5:48 p.m. Yep. Almost an hour late again. He tapped his fingers at the keyboard, typing his response quickly back to his brother. ‘Sorry, Papy! I just got a bit caught up at work again. I promise I’m heading back home now!’ He went to place the phone back in his pocket, but it buzzed again. His brother must have been waiting intently to hear from him as he had replied back already. ‘alright, bro. no worries. just make sure to be safe on the walk back. love you.’ Blue typed a quick, ‘I will. Love you, too, Papy! See you soon!’, before finally shutting his phone off and replacing it back into his pocket. He teetered back and forth from the balls of his heels to his toes as he let out a heavy sigh. “Well, this certainly wasn’t the note I was hoping to end the night on.” He let out such an evidently fake laugh, it hurt. “But I guess only so much can go my way in one day.” He pouted, his eyelights trailing over to the clock again. He really had to get going. "Um, so my last scheduled day of work this week is tomorrow. I don't work weekends since those days I bring my brother here for physical therapy. Again, sorry to suddenly have to leave like this, but it's getting late. I already kind of broke the promise of getting home on time to my brother, so I have to leave now." He turned towards the door, his back to Red as he placed his hand over the knob. "Goodnight, Red." He opened the door swiftly, letting himself out without another look back.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

Blue had decided that the best course of action was to take the shortcut home. His brother had usually warned him to stay away from the slightly shady back alleyway, but if he was to get home at a proper time he felt it was necessary. Sidestepping some of the more questionable passerby, he made it home unharmed, and much earlier than if he had taken the long route. Papy, as usual, was sat almost up against the door awaiting Blue's arrival. After a ridiculous amount of trying to pacify his older brother on the fact that 'Yes, everything is fine!' and 'No, Papy you don't have to go and beat some sense into anyone!', he finally set about making a simple pasta dish for dinner. They made idle chat, Blue laughing and groaning at his brother's attempts at filtering horrid puns into nearly every sentence. Finally, Blue was washing the dishes and heading off to his little bedroom, as Papy wheeled himself off towards his own after a goodnight hug from his baby brother. Blue flopped himself onto his bed, his soul ached at how he'd left Red looking so utterly shattered. He hoped the red skeleton would try and get some sleep tonight. 

He'd apologize tomorrow. 

For sure.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

Red was left in speechless self-contempt at the engulfing silence that began to consume him once Blue had left. He was so caught up in his thoughts, he failed to even acknowledge the fact that Blue had forgotten to replace the leather straps back over his wrists. There was just the horrendous, obviously fake laughter the little skelly had choked out that rang endlessly in his head.

Red decided it was the single most disgusting sound he had ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I know Blue is really flirtatious with Red alot, but it's more just a jipe towards him rather than sexual attraction
> 
> For Red it is the complete latter, and he'll still adamantly deny it, but he's starting to like the blue skelly alot
> 
> If I didn't make that obvious enough XD


	5. Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now. He had to do it now. Apologize. It’d be easy enough. Just a quick sorry for him being such an asshole. Sure, these weren’t the most presentable of conditions, but he felt a strong need to express his regret to the little skelly. Especially after seeing him so carefree and joyful again. Just apologize for yesterday. Just fucking do it. “Hey, Blue, liste-”
> 
> “I’m so sorry, Red.” Blue just felt the need to say it as the silence had stretched on between them. He needed to get it out of the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this took friggin forever  
It's over 16,000 words so yeah
> 
> Also the rating had been changed to explicit now since Red is being ... Well Red XD Especially at the end of this chapter ;3
> 
> Also here's a [song](https://youtu.be/l0Ry1pGvPTc) that helped with the title of this chapter
> 
> And the [recipe>/a> that Blue uses to make his dessert I'm putting way too much effort into this rip](https://dearcrissy.com/cherry-dump-cake-recipe/)

So, here Undihre stood outside of room 348, pacing in place a mile a minute as if her life depended on it. Alvrous had told her she should get one of those 'pedometers' that the Humans used to track how many steps one would take in a day, because she was pretty sure Dire would have broken some world record by now. Last night, Undihre had decided it was time. After she realized Blue hadn't stopped in to speak with her before leaving yesterday again, and then catching him running out of the building at lightning speeds once she had gone to leave and lock up for the night herself, she felt she had stalled enough in leaving the broken camera in room 348. Along with refusing to face her fears in a way, as well. She knew the red skeleton didn't take too kindly to her, if his indicative sobriquet for her, 'the fish bitch', was anything to go by. Plus, she hadn't missed the absolute murderous looks he had shot at her yesterday. 

The problem wasn’t so much that 73 himself was unamenable, well he was quite problematic- okay extremely problematic, but still, it was more so the fact of how he acted towards her. She wasn’t unused to being treated like the scum of the earth, she very much had her hand in telling herself she was no better than the dirt under her feet, but she had a hard time ignoring others abject opinions of herself. As often as her girlfriend would constantly tell her how beautiful and oh gosh, ‘sexy’, she was, she still had a hard time believing it sometimes when it went against how she had always viewed herself as. Undihre had always subjected herself to degrading comments from her own subconscious, but it also made it a great deal harder to believe she really was worth all that much when suddenly there were forces beside her own that kept pointing her towards the fact that maybe she really wasn’t. 73 had spat in her face, belittled her, and called her quite a few demeaning words that still felt as though the red skeleton had physically clawed at her soul himself. Dire knew though, that most of them were probably said in the heat of the moment at his disgust of being forced into a situation he'd rather not be in. That fact still didn't make them sting any less.

Even still, Patient 73 seemed complacent enough with Blue, but her friend wouldn't be heading into work until his shift started at 11:00 a.m. That was nearly an hour after her own would have started, and she had a feeling that Blue would do everything in his power to stop her from fixing the camera if she tried to do it while he happened to be with 73. Dire had known since the beginning that the blue skeleton was to blame for the destroyed camera in the first place. Still, as much as she tried to theorize as to a valid reason why, she couldn't for the life of her figure out what was going through his mind to do such a thing. He was in a highly dangerous position at that time. If she hadn't been there before the footage cut out on her computer, she probably would have assumed something had just gone wrong with the faulty wiring and left it at that. Thank Gods that hadn’t been the case. Who would have known how Blue would have ended up if she didn't catch it in time. Her breath hitched just at the thought. 

So, ultimately, she had gone in for her shift about 15 minutes earlier in hopes of quickly running into 73's room, installing the new camera, and then rushing out before any theoretical damage could be done. However, that hadn't gone precisely to plan. Once she had made her way down the inauspicious hallway, deathly quiet since it was still early, she found her confidence in being able to sneak into the room without being caught, shrinking substantially. Thus, she had wasted those 15 minutes she had racked up to work with, by just pacing outside the door, muttering to herself on reasons why leaving the busted camera would be plausible. It sounded so much better to just leave it be, honestly. Yet, she had promised herself that she couldn’t allow anything to happen to Blue again. So, as much as she wanted to tuck tail and run, forgetting about the entire plan she had surmised, she couldn’t. So, after another 5 minutes, which officially made her late towards handling this whole ordeal, she steeled herself as she finally faced the door.

When she started to push herself in past the doorframe, she made it a necessity to check the situation she would be forcing herself into first and foremost. Her eyes scanned over the darkened room, that still had yet to detect movement from how little of a ways she had pushed the door in. Taking into account that 73 must have been still for at least a good 3 hours for them to ultimately turn off in the first place, she made the quick-witted assumption that the Monster was asleep. Okay. So, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Her eyes trailed over the stationary form as she realized that he wasn't restrained to the bed. Yet, it didn't seem that the red Monster had moved at all during the night. She swallowed the hefty lump in her throat down as much as she could, before mustering up all the courage her timid little soul could push out, and slipped in past the small opening she made in the doorway. The door creaked softly shut behind her, which made her realize she had stopped breathing as she looked over the red skeleton’s still immobile figure. As the lights had flickered on overhead at her intrusion, she feared the harsh light would have stirred the Monster awake. Yet, he still sat unsettlingly inanimate. If 73’s chest wasn’t slowly rising and falling every few seconds, Dire could dare compare him to looking almost lifeless. She breathed a sigh of relief feebly out through her moue. Quickly she made her way over to the far right corner of the room, shuffling her feet quietly as to not make too much noise. She reached for the stool tucked away under the counter by the far wall, pushing it and locking it into place as she tried to shakily reach up to the dangling metal hanging from the ceiling.

“Hey, fish.” Husky words vocalized behind the Fish Monster, shattering the placidity.

Oh Gods! Undihre squeaked in quite an undignified fashion in surprise at the gravelly voice breaking through the silence. Nearly falling off the stool she had gone to stand on, she placed her hands flat against the wall as to steady herself. Her soul flew up into her throat, beginning to beat rapidly in trepidation. Her breathing had escalated to rigid gasps in her shock. After finally composing herself, she closed her eyes, feeling stable enough to try and breathe normally again.

"It'd be nice for ya to fuckin' answer me." The raspy tone was suffocating in vexation now.

Dire let out an indignant squeal as the voice piped up again. Flinching, she quickly scrambled down off the stool before she could manage to fall off of it instead. She turned around to meet the cold red eyelights of the monster who had spoken out. Backing up at descrying his fierce expression, Dire flailed as the back of her knee made contact with the same stool she had nearly fallen off moments ago. She thankfully landed on the cushiony seat of the stool rather than winding up on the floor next to it. Her face reddened to a bright vermillion. "I-I... Um… Y-Yes?" She stammered in response to the red skeleton.

He watched as the Fish Monster fell over herself, until she finally looked up at him from the corner of the room. What a stupid fucking bitch. He shouldn't even waste his time asking her. But then again, he really needed to know. Red's voice came out low, but nowhere near as apathetic as he was hoping. "Is he still comin' today?" Wincing, he rebuked himself for letting it slip out in such a tone that made him sound so fucking pathetic. Whatever. If she commented on it in any way, it'd be her fucking funeral.

Undihre's face twisted into one of incertitude. Why was he asking that all of a sudden? He was talking about Blue, wasn't he? She couldn't think of anyone else he could possibly be referring to. Her soul fell back to its place in her chest at hearing the red Monster's change in resonance. Was he worried? As cute as she probably would have thought that was in any other situation, she found she couldn't really revel in that fact when 73 looked about ready to kill her at a moment's notice. It was at these times Undihre found herself envying her friend's abilities at reading the atmosphere. Her brows formed a crease above the bridge of her nose as she tried to make an equitable conjecture on the situation he was laying out by asking such a thing.

Fucking great. Red knew she'd be of no help. "Never fuckin' mind." He spat viciously, leaning back against the cot. Fuck he was so tired. Again, the world decided that to fuck him over for what he'd done yesterday, he wouldn't be able to get a wink of sleep last night. He deserved it, that much he knew, but it still fucking sucked. When he'd furtively watched the fish bitch welcome herself in, the lights flickering on overhead made it very clear that a raging stress-induced migraine had made its home inside his skull.

Quivering from the harsh intonation of 73's voice, Dire placed a hand over her chest as her soul began to race again. No. She had nothing to worry about yet. 73 had just asked a simple question. He hadn't even made an attempt at getting up. He was still slumping in the cot with an infuriated air about him, but also seeming... quite solemn really. Undihre exhaled through her nose as she forced herself to relax. Her voice was audibly fluctuating, but still managed to come out somewhat comprehensible. "H-He should be. I-I haven't g-gotten any n-news from h-him that w-would s-state o-otherwise." Almost every other word had a tremor in it as she forced out the belated reply. Undihre had to tread carefully here. She croaked out her own query almost soundlessly. "W-Why?"

Red narrowed his sockets as he raised a clawed hand to rub at his skull, in a pointless aim to try and appease the impending ache within. He'd noticed after a good several hours of just brooding in silence last night, that Blue hadn't replaced the straps back on him. He hadn't done much with said information other then scratch at his skull nearly to the point of tearing into the crack running along it. At one point, it actually had started to leak a deep red, and he reluctantly forced himself to stop. He'd figured, if Blue did happen to come back to see him, since he was such a fucking saint he'd probably be even more hurt by the fact Red had clawed at his own face for what happened yesterday. That's if the little skelly still even gave two shits about him. Which seemed highly unlikely. He hated how much that thought tore into his core like a serrated knife. He scoffed at Undihre's mumbled question, closing his sockets against the harsh light. It was getting really fucking annoying. The fish bitch had answered his question easily enough, so he figured he could at least humor her just once by answering her own. Blue was friends with her, too, and as much as he disliked the fish whore, he didn't want the blue skelly having anything else to use against ever seeing Red again. Might as well try and be civil. TRY. He turned his head, letting his sockets open to some degree, and allowing his unfocused red eyelights to meet her gaze. "'Cause I need to apologize to him."

Dire cowered down a bit as patient 73 let his eyelights meet her. She noticed, then, that there were deep, dark circles underlining his sockets. The only skeleton Monster she had ever seen with something remotely similar to bags under his sockets, was Blue's older brother, and even that was rare. Well, skeleton Monsters were rare regardless, but something told her that for their sockets to look so sunken in like 73's, there had to be some extreme sleep deprivation at work. Even she never had them that bad, and she'd gone days staying up in the lab working on experiments and whatnot back in the Underground. She had wanted to inquire further, to find out exactly why the red skeleton felt the need to apologize, but refrained from doing so. It was a miracle on its own that he'd even answered her to begin with. So, instead, Undihre nodded and meekly replied with a different question, hoping to maybe help the wearily fraught Monster in some way. If he would let her, anyways. "W-Would you l-like to take a-a shower?"

The hell? What fucking kind of question was that? He furrowed his brow bones as his eyes narrowed further against the harsh light. His voice had returned to a more irritated timbre. "What the fuck are ya tryin' to say?"

Immediately, Undihre regretted her decision. She stood up suddenly, giving herself leverage on getting to the door in case things began to go haywire. She waved her hands about in front of her in a placating motion as she tripped over her words. "N-No! I-I didn't m-mean anything b-by it! I-I just thought- W-Well, you've been cooped u-up in here a-and- Er, y-you also look e-exhausted so- I-I just f-figured-" She clasped her hands over her chest as his leer grew more livid. She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply as she swam through the sea of jumbled words in her mind to pick out what she had been trying to say. "I-I can tell y-you haven't been s-sleeping that w-well. P-Plus, I-If my understanding i-is correct, you a-also haven't b-been able to shower s-since your a-arrival here. S-Sometimes, I know some f-find it nice to j-just relax under th-the hot water w-when they're not f-feeling too g-great." She cleared her throat, letting her eyes open to try and peek at 73's reaction to her declaration.

A hot shower. Now that he thought about it, it sounded really fucking nice. Skeleton Monsters weren't ones to have to try and shower daily if they felt they didn't need to. It was more of an indulgence rather than a necessity for them. Although their bones could produce sweat, it barely ever gave off a smell, unless it happened frequently and lingered for extended periods of time. Red was no exception to this, unfortunately. The idea of just letting the hot water spray over his spine was a gratifying thought. Still, he didn't like the fact that the fish whore was the one to suggest it regardless. "I'm not about to start wearin' the fuckin' rags ya got in here." He cast his eyelights away. As nice as the shower sounded, he certainly didn't want to start looking like he actually belonged in the fucking place.

Oh wow. So, he at least was taking it into consideration. She had figured he wouldn't wish to wear the medical gowns that most of the other patients wore, on the slim chance he'd even agree to her suggestion. Which was suddenly happening. Apparently. "I-I could have your c-clothes washed f-for you, and d-dropped off by th-the showers before y-you're even d-done." She decided to push it further, see if 73 would actually agree to it if she made it more appealing to him. "B-Blue takes c-cleanliness and well-being q-quite seriously. So, I-I'm sure he'd a-appreciate if y-you took o-one, too." She added in, wondering if mixing Blue into the conversation would further help in leaning him towards agreeing to it. It was a shot in the dark, but worth a try.

Red's sockets narrowed as he contemplated it further. So, she would let him wear his own clothes afterwards. That'd make it a bit better, he assumed. He ground his teeth together. Would Blue really appreciate something as simple as that? He answered his own question with an astounding 'yes' from the back of his mind as he thought over how easily pleased the little skelly proved to be. He replayed the way the blue skeleton bashfully rambled on and on whenever Red even dripped an ounce of praise on him in his head. He felt his soul ache just to hear his voice sound that blissful again. The fake laugh Blue had tossed at him still stung his core. "Fine." He took a gander at the clock. 10:39 a.m. If what the fish bitch said was true about Blue coming in to work today, he'd have to make it quick if he wanted to see him right when he showed up. He had discerned the little skeleton's shift started at around 11:00 a.m. Red heaved himself up off the cot, letting his feet ungracefully drag across the floor. He stood before Undihre with his arms crossed. "Can I go now, or what?"

Undihre felt the corners of her mouth upturn against her will into a small smile as she saw 73 thinking over the offer even more after she had brought up Blue. Now that was cute! She forced her giddiness down, as she watched the red skeleton drop down off the cot. She'd have plenty of time to be squeeing in hysteria about the scenario later when she was able to call up Alvrous. Patient 73 came up to about right under her nose, whereas Blue only came up to her chest. That height difference would also help fuel her growing appetant ship between the two of them. She bit hard on her lip to try and control the flush threatening to grow over her face. "O-Oh! N-Now is f-fine. I-I'll bring you t-to the sh-showers so you c-can hand me y-your clothes th-through the doorway."

He rolled his eyelights as he watched the Fish Monster's face darken. Red grunted, choosing to not reply as the Fish Monster walked around him to the door leading out of his room. He followed in tow, a few good feet behind her as she led him down the hall, stopping halfway between the elevators towards the beginning of it and his assigned room. The light oak door before the pair showcased a little plaque off to the side with the symbol of a showerhead on it. "Wow. Really coulda gotten lost goin' this far." He muttered impassively as he moved to push the door open. "Thanks." He proffered, with just as much enthusiasm, before swiftly slamming the door shut behind him with a bang.

Undihre jumped as 73 pushed her aside, forcing his way through the door with his listless thanks still hanging in the air. Even if it held no emotion, Dire appreciated the fact he still had said it. She waited for a few seconds after the red skeleton had went into the shower room, before the door was opened a crack and a red sweater and black shorts were thrown in her face. The door closed, the audible click of the lock sounding before she could say anything against it. She folded the articles as neatly as possible over one arm as she cupped her mouth with the hand on her free one. "I-I'll make s-sure to get these c-cleaned up right a-away. I-I'll have s-someone b-bring them wh-when they're done and l-leave them out h-here for you." After there was no answer, besides the muffled rushing of water behind the door, she took off towards the laundry room in a hurry. Blue would be arriving soon, so she'd have to rush back to her office to greet him.

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His eyelids blinked groggily against the light filtering in through the window. Blue hadn't slept very well. His soul had been aching throughout the night as he kept replaying how he'd just up and left Red to his own devices after their scuffle. He really should have watched his tone. He knew Red didn't understand his own outlook on life, and it wouldn't be entirely wrong to just view it as wishful thinking half the time. Still, Blue meant what he had said. He'd just wished it had come off better than he'd left it as. He pushed himself out of bed, rubbing at his sockets to help adjust them to the light of day as he went to get changed.

After a quick shower and throwing on his newly cleaned scrubs from out of the dryer, he traipsed into the kitchen. Although he'd gone shopping early in the morning a couple days ago, there wasn't too much to work with. Once this week was up, he'd hoped the extra money from his check would be able to be used towards buying more food for his brother and himself. He used what was available to him, however, still grateful for what little they had, and put together a somewhat decent concoction of ingredients to make omelettes. He heard his brother wheel into the kitchen and settle himself at his end of the table as he worked on beating some eggs with water and a small bit of seasoning together in a large bowl. "Good morning, Papy!" He offered in a sing-songy voice. After how much his brother had prattled at him for getting home late again, he didn't want to worry him further by showing his lack of sleep through the night.

"Morning, bro." The taller replied, slipping a yawn into the last word as he outstretched his arms behind his head. The smell coming from the omelettes over the stove was spectacular. His little brother always had a knack for cooking, even when in the Underground with such limited food choices. Paps was surprised that his lil' bro hadn't decided to try and work more on cooking once they'd finally come to the surface. He knew that Blue would have made for a great chef, if Monsters were allowed to go for such jobs. Things were getting better, he wouldn't lie, but they still were quite suppressed when it came to most things. "I was thinking about whether or not I should ask you to promise to come home on time again tonight." His tone was teasing. "But since you're so insistent on getting under your big bro's skin, I'm just gonna ask that you text me whenever you decide on leaving work today." He winked, tittering softly as he spoke.

Blue laughed awkwardly as his brother jokingly berated him for being late, for the hundredth time. He flipped the omelette over in the pan, this one was almost finished. Once he deduced it was perfectly cooked to his liking, he plated it and set it down in front of his brother. Turning, he headed back to making one for himself. "Aheheh…. Yeah, I'm sorry, Papy. I've just been so excited to finally be able to help out there! I promise I will text you if I find out I'm running really late again." Once his own omelette was finished, he took it and sat across from the taller skeleton, who was already downing his like a rabid animal. "And I'll keep my promise this time, I swear to it!" He cut into his own, chewing it slowly at first to test it. Not bad. He'd use more peppers next time.

"I'm just pulling your leg, bro. I know you're more than capable enough to take care of yourself anyways." Paps looked up at him once he'd swallowed the last bit of the omelette, sitting back blissfully in his wheelchair. Damn that was good. Blue just kept getting better. "I'm still your brother, though, ya know? Just try and keep me posted more often." Blue had begun to wolf down his own food. Paps looked at the cracked digital clock on the stove. His brother would be heading out to work soon. "I know you're excited to finally start working there, and you'll put your best foot forward in anything if you deem it necessary. So, I don't mind too much. I mean, I do make a big deal out of it sometimes, but I'm the big brother. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't." He began to wheel himself out into the living area. "Just remember to try and keep my mind at ease, too, while you're at it." He smirked gently before leaving the kitchen entirely, letting his brother gather up their plates after he'd finished his own breakfast.

Blue smiled brightly at his brother, his face a light blue at the sincerity in his words. "I know, Papy." He had stood, gathering the dishes after Papy had left the room, washing them quickly in the sink before reaching for the white bag on the countertop and bounding out of the kitchen himself. His brother sat over by the couch, amusedly watching some drama show as Blue went ahead in pulling his boots on. He trudged over to the taller skeleton, wrapping him in a big hug before breaking away and opening the front door. He voiced his endearment and proffered a cheery goodbye to his brother, then left the apartment, rushing off towards the direction of the clinic.

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After the elevator dinged informing him he'd made it to his destination on the third floor, he ambled out of the metal box. He caught Undihre as she shuffled with her keys outside her office door. That was odd. She usually would have been in her office by now. Her shift always started an hour earlier than his own. Had she been running late today? "Hi, Dire!" His voice rang out, startling the Fish Monster into dropping her keys. He skipped over, kneeling down to retrieve them for her. "Aheh. Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you." He handed back her keys apologetically.

Undihre had known Blue would be coming any minute, but she still managed to jump nearly 10 feet when he called out to her from behind. She had been in the midst of trying to get into her office before he arrived, but like everything else today, it wasn't exactly going as planned. Still, she gratefully took up the keys held out to her by the small skeleton, finally fitting the one for her office door into the lock and letting them both into the room. She moved around to plop down into her swivel chair as she watched her friend take the little seat in front of her desk. "I-It's okay, Blue. N-Not everything has b-been going my way t-today." She shot him a miffed smile as she began to tap away on her laptop. She had so much she'd need to catch up on now.

Blue offered a sympathetic smile as she explained how her day had started out. "Sorry to hear that, Dire. I hope it all starts looking up from here though!" He let his voice take on a hopeful resonance as he offered a thumbs up, smiling brighter as he watched Dire chuckle to herself at his action. "Why were you still outside your office, though? Your shift started an hour ago, didn't it? Were you running late today?" He asked timidly, hoping he wasn't swimming in demeaning waters.

Undihre let out a huff of breath as she laughed at Blue's little encouraging thumbs up. She nodded slowly as he asked the next few questions. "T-To a degree y-yes. You could s-say that." She swiped away a few email notifs on her screen, before looking back towards her friend. "I a-actually initially got h-here 15 minutes earlier than th-the start of my sh-shift, if you can believe i-it." She laughed to herself, running a hand through her hair. "I was hoping t-to finally go and f-fix the camera in 348, b-but it didn't q-quite go as planned."

Blue's disposition took on one of shock as Dire explained she had tried to go into Red's room. "Uh oh. He didn't start anything, did he?" He asked, quietly. His timbre carried an air of worry, but also distinct sadness with it.

Undihre raised her hand as she shook her head. "N-No, that's j-just the thing. I-I had made my way i-into the room, ready to work o-on the camera, but then h-he spoke out to me." She smiled reassuringly, watching Blue relax at her words. "H-He didn't even c-call me th-the B-word like h-he usually does, either." She decided she would leave out the part where 73 had told her he wanted to apologize to the blue skeleton. That was his own affair to deal with, and a personal matter she didn't feel inclined to mention of her own accord. "I-I also noticed th-that last night as y-you hurried out the door, you f-forgot to restrain him by the w-way." She chastised her friend gently.

Oh stars! Dire was right! He completely left without even thinking of strapping the other skeleton back to the cot. He'd been so caught up in what Red had said, he'd ran off towards home as quickly as he could. "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry, Dire. I just…" His voice trailed off as he felt the guilty pang ring through his soul again. "Some things happened last night, and I must not have been thinking." Suddenly he made a connection in his skull. "Wait. He didn't try and do anything? Even being unrestrained like that the whole night?"

The Fish Monster smiled down at her friend across from her, nodding. "H-He didn't. Even when I w-went into the room, he r-remained seated. He didn't s-seem to get t-too much sleep last night, I-I think." Dire added the last part more by accident as she recollected the previous events, noticing how her skeleton friend's demeanor dropped. She scrambled to try and fix his quickly falling appearance. "I-I managed to g-get him to go and take a sh-shower to try and r-relax."

Blue's eyelights doubled in size as he heard Undihre's nearly incomprehensible achievement in making Red actually agree to such a thing. Let alone getting him to be any sort of willing to go anywhere else in the building. "You got him to take a SHOWER?! HERE?!" He nearly yelled as he got to his feet, hanging onto the edge of her desk as he bounced on his toes. "That's incredible! I'm glad he was willing to do so." His face fell again as he flopped back down into his own seat. "I know he must be worn out. I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep too well the night before, either." His mandible dropped against his manubrium as he surmised that their squabble last night probably had something to do with Red's visible exhaustion Undihre spoke of today. "Um… Where is he now, Dire?" He wanted to go and apologize to the red Monster as quickly as possible.

She clicked her tongue as she saw Blue go through his emotions again. Pursing her lips, she looked over her friend sweetly. "He should s-still be in the shower r-room." She mumbled softly, her eyes offering a gentleness towards her friend through them. Oh wait! That's a good idea! She cleared her throat. "Actually, I h-had sent to get h-his clothes cleaned. I s-still need someone to go b-bring them to him. H-He refuses to w-wear the clinic gowns." She squinted her eyes as she smiled wide towards her friend. "C-Could you do it f-for me?" He was already looking brighter at her suggestion.

"Of course!" Blue jumped up, standing straight as he puffed out his chest. "Thank you for getting him to somehow agree to taking a shower, Dire. I hope he's trying to unwind a bit while in there." He went to the door, propping it open and stepping out. He waved back to his Fish friend. "I'm gonna head down there to pick up his clothes now! I'll talk to you later!" He shut the door softly before running off towards the elevator; taking it down to the laundry room located on the second floor.

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This was fucking heavenly. As the water trailed down over his cervical and thoracic curve, Red heaved out a pleasant sigh through his nasal cavity. He hadn’t had a chance at having a real hot shower since Boss and himself had fled their Underground to the Surface. Since then, his younger brother had worked himself to the bone to try and find someone that wouldn’t turn up their fucking nose at the thought of letting the two borderline malicious-looking skeletons take up residence somewhere. They managed to find a meager, banged up studio apartment on probably the most sketchy looking street Red himself had ever seen. Which was saying a hell of a lot given his past in their part of the Underground. They had a shower, if one could call it that, that decided to work whenever it deemed the right time for it to. And, when the weak pressured water finally did manage to filter through the showerhead, it was ice-cold every fucking time. So, this, was a nice change. He couldn’t help but feel as though the fact that he was showering in the godforsaken clinic was a major damper on how pleasant the situation actually could be. Still, it helped relax his weary, cracked bones, and he even found himself mentally thanking the fish bitch for bringing up the idea. Though he’d never say it to her face. At least, meaningfully, anyways.

There wasn’t a clock in the room to help him tell the time, but after a few minutes of being under the hot water, Red managed to forget about trying to keep track of how long he’d been in the shower room. It wasn’t like his bones could prune or anything, and given that the water bill wasn’t going to turn up in his own mailbox, he felt he could allow himself the complacency of indulging in the free hot water pouring over his bones. One thing that wasn’t so welcome, was the fact that it was so silent. The only sound going against his own was that of the rushing water over his back, and that led to his mind continuing to succumb to the end result of yesterday. Fucking hell. Him and his big fucking mouth. He had actually begun to enjoy his time yesterday with Blue, up until about the last two hours of it. Then he had to go and fuck everything up. The kid really was a fucking saint. Even after Red had continued to prove time and time again he wasn’t worth shit, Blue still offered him the brightest and most encouraging smile like he was worth all the world and more. It made his broken soul ache and burn as it lodged itself in his throat. The world really enjoyed making him suffer for turning everything on it’s head between Blue and himself every damn time. He assumed he was a real fucking sucker for pain since he somehow kept making it worse every chance he got. His self-loathing thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Shit. He must’ve been in here for about an hour now at least. He hastily shut off the water, jumping out of the shower and wrapping himself in one of the soft towels hanging over the towel rack provided on the wall. He began to try and hurriedly dry himself off as another rapping, a bit louder this time, sounded against the oak door.

“Um... Red? Are you in there?” Blue had come back up with Red’s clothes in hand after heading down to get them from the cleaner’s on the second floor. They were folded neatly, draping over his left arm as he kept his right hovered over the door where he had knocked on it. He chewed on his lower jaw, at first worrying that perhaps Red wasn’t the one behind the door, but decided to pipe up again when no answer came signifying that it wasn’t. “It’s Blue! I have your clothes all cleaned and dried for you! Undihre sent me to get them for you since I came in not too long ago.” He let his hand fall back to his side as he teetered back and forth from his toes to his heels, it happened to be something he did a lot when he found himself anxious or excited.

He froze. Fuck! He was supposed to be out of the shower before Blue arrived! Now said little skelly was waiting outside with his clothes for him like some houseboy. Or a maid. Oh shit. The little angel would look fucking amazing in a maid’s outfit. He ran the back of his hand under his nasal cavity to stop the potential blood loss from such an image cropping up in his skull. Even though he had been incessantly berating himself inside his head just moments before, he felt his soul beat hard in his chest at hearing the cheery muffled voice of the smaller skeleton behind the door. He stumbled over to it, wrapping his lower half within the towel rashly as he unlocked the door, peeking his head out to meet the gentle blue eyelights looking up at him from beyond the doorway. “Shit, babydoll. Ya just missed me bein' in the shower by a second.” Although he felt he would hate himself for it later, he let the usual cocksure grin overcome his face as he took in the little skelly’s bouncing figure. His voice grew sultry as he narrowed his sockets at the other. “I mean I wouldn’t mind hoppin’ back in real quick, if ya’d wanna join me.” He gave a wink down towards the blue skeleton, his soul racing hard in his chest as his mind displayed all the lewd images of what could possibly lay under those star-covered scrubs.

Blue was taken aback, at first, but then was clutching at his abdomen as he laughed wholeheartedly. It was in both parts relief at the fact that Red sounded so much like his normal self even after everything that had occurred yesterday, but also just the idea of how much gall the larger skeleton had in asking such a thing. In a medical facility's shower room no less. His form shook with little chuckles as he finally managed to regain most of his self control, and he looked back up into Red's eyelights. He smiled brightly up at the other, his eyelights sparkling in levity. "As flattering as that is, I'm going to have to pass." He brought his right hand up to stifle the little chortles that threatened to break through as his left hand held out the clean garments for the red Monster. "Sorry, but I already had a shower myself this morning." Once Red had taken up the clothes into his own claw he'd somehow shoved through the crack in the door, Blue trailed his now empty fingers along the edge of it playfully. His eyesockets lidded slowly as he smirked in a teasing manner. His voice coming out near breathless. "Maybe next time though." He let his tongue peek out at the other, before dropping his hand from the door's edge and bringing it back up to his face in an attempt to try and hide his smile breaking through his licentious act.

He clenched his fist around his newly cleaned clothes in a vice grip, nearly tearing his claws through them in the process. His eyelights had watched Blue’s little fingers trail over the door’s edge right in front of his face with such audacity, that Red failed to realize how his breath had faltered at the flirtatious performance. His throat suddenly felt both very dry, and near salivating so much to the point he could begin to drool all over himself. His soul lurched under his rib cage at the soft, bubbly laughs that tumulted from the little skelly’s mouth. Lighthearted. Mellifluous. Perfect. Just like how it should be. He felt his face turn a deep crimson as he watched the blue angel try and suppress his giggling behind his hand. Red had already said it to himself so many times before, but the kid was a fucking godsend. Now. He had to do it now. Apologize. It’d be easy enough. Just a quick sorry for him being such an asshole. Sure, these weren’t the most presentable of conditions, but he felt a strong need to express his regret to the little skelly. Especially after seeing him so carefree and joyful again. Just apologize for yesterday. Just fucking do it. “Hey, Blue, liste-”

“I’m so sorry, Red.” Blue just felt the need to say it as the silence had stretched on between them. He needed to get it out of the way. The guilt from yesterday had just been tearing him up inside, and after Red had expressed little to no contempt on the situation, he wanted to just get it off his chest. His eyelights had shrunk a bit as he tapped his two forefingers together in front of him. “I never should have reacted the way I did yesterday. It was so utterly rude and uncalled for. I’m not saying I didn’t mean what I said, but I’m so sorry for how it came across.” He had began to clench his toes in his boots as he continued, the smallest trace of a smile still remained on his face, but it held a distinct apologetic aspect to it. “It was wrong for me to assume that you would understand my point of view so effortlessly, when I’ve never explained it to you. I didn’t mean to leave so abruptly like I did either, I just-” He flinched as the door suddenly slammed shut in his face. “R-Red?” Blue felt his fingers tremble as he clasped them over his chest. Oh no. Was bringing up yesterday a bad idea? Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything after all. “Red? I-I’m sorry!” He had pressed himself to the door, trying his best not to frantically start yelling through it. Oh stars. He swallowed rigidly as he felt his soul pang painfully against his bones. His body slumped against the door. “P-Please talk to me…”

Fucking DAMMIT! This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Blue wasn’t supposed to be the one apologizing to HIM! Red was the one who’d fucked everything up. He was the one who said all those soulless fucking things yesterday. Blue had every right to fight against him, if he could even call it that. The little skelly barely even raised his fucking voice for fuck’s sake! His claws began to dig into his skull as he paced back and forth in the shower room. His breathing was haggard as his mind swam with scorn towards himself. He fought against everything he had to not just start digging his claws into the wall until they bled. He wasn’t good at dealing with this kind of shit. He wasn’t good with emotions. His own emotions. Red stopped abruptly at hearing the blue skelly’s calls to him beyond the door. He began to haphazardly pull his boxers and shorts up over his legs as he heard the blue skeleton slump against the door, pleading with him. “Come in here.” His voice was raspy, as he called out to Blue.

“Wh-What?” Come in? Blue wasn’t sure he had heard Red right, but when no further explanation came through from the other side, he decided that was indeed what he had said. He felt his magic burn his cheeks at the thought of seeing Red practically indecent. “I-I can’t, Red! I can’t just let myself in when you-”

Red was nearly howling at the door now. “Just fucking… COME IN HERE!” Oh. Good going, smooth talker. Yeah just yell at him, that’ll make everything better. Fucking idiot. He let his voice drop lower, his throat tight. “I swear, I’m wearin' some clothes 'n shit just… come in here." It sounded strained as he turned to face the door, his eyelights roaming over it, awaiting for it to open. "Just… please." He muttered, barely louder than a whisper.

He had his hand hovering over the brass knob on the door. He was still unsure about impeding on Red's privacy like this, even though the larger skeleton had reassured him he was at least partially dressed. However, once Red had mumbled a muffled plea from inside, he bolstered himself and let his hand turn the knob as he pushed the door in. His head was hung low, his eyelights trailing the floor in case Red wasn't exactly as clothed as he had said, but he noticed the black shorts hanging down over the other's patellae. Once he had fully entered the shower room, he waited till he heard the click of the door shutting behind him before trailing his eyelights up to try and meet Red's. "Red, I'm sor-" His mouth fell open and he smacked his hands over it in utter shock at the sight of the skeleton in front of him.

Red had predicted Blue's reaction once he finally moved to look up at him. He only had pulled his shorts on over his hips before telling the blue skeleton to come in. So, there he stood, half-naked in front of the little skelly, his marred bones for the world to see. "I know they're gross to look at, but just forget about 'em for now." He furrowed his brow bones as he paced forward towards the still gawking smaller Monster. He stopped about a foot away, staring hard down into the skelly’s face before casting his eyelights to the side. He sighed heavily. "I don't get what the fuck you're apologizin' for. I was the one who said some fucked up shit yesterday. Not you." He grit his teeth, grinding them audibly. "So, just stop, alright?" Clenching his claws into fists, he forcefully refrained himself from wanting to shove them deep inside his pockets. "Ya shouldn't be sorry, Blue. I should be." He finally brought his gaze back to the smaller's still stunned countenance. "And I am. I'm sorry, Blue."

Oh Gods! How was he still standing upright? Blue vaguely perceived that his breathing had quickened at seeing Red standing ahead of him. The red skeleton’s upper body was entirely covered in scars. Some were deep gashes that he could make out along his forearms, and there was an extremely distinct and deep mark cutting diagonally across his ribs. There were smaller cuts, too. They lined the majority of his upper arms, some across his sternum and trailing up even higher over his clavicles. Parts of his lower ribs looked as though someone or something had been chipping away at them slowly over time, the small dips in the bones still holding remnants of water from the shower the skeleton had taken. Blue’s soul twinged horribly at the sight. The smaller skeleton could feel tears welling in his sockets as he thought of just how much the red Monster must have gone through in order to get those scars. He briefly wondered how many of them were self-inflicted. Red was suffering. He had been for a long, long time. How did he manage to work through such a thing on his own? Blue felt the cyan tears spill over his sockets, beginning to slide down his cheekbones and over his cupped hands still clenched tightly over his mouth. He couldn't care less. How was Red still able to move so fluidly? Didn't it hurt? Oh Gods, what if it hurt? Was Red putting himself through even more pain by just going about his daily life? He choked as he attempted to stop the stream of tears threatening to spill, but he couldn’t stop them. He just couldn’t.

Oh shit. Was he crying? Red's left socket twitched as he watched Blue's suddenly trembling form below him. The smaller skeleton's eyelights were hazy as he looked over Red behind his clasped hands. Oh fuck, he was definitely crying! Why? This wasn't supposed to happen! "H-Hey, Blue! Th-There's no need to be cryin', alright?" He gesticulated with his arms frantically trying to console the smaller blue skeleton in some way. He felt he wasn't getting through to the other Monster as he refused to meet his gaze. "I-I'm sorry, Blue! Y-Ya alright? Uh…?" Gods, what a dumb fucking question. Oh yes, Red, everything was just fucking sunshine and rainbows. Holy fuck, the tears just wouldn't fucking stop. What did he do? Was it something he said or- His scars? Fucking probably! They were hideous! Why the fuck hadn't he put his goddamned sweater back on! "Oh shit! Blue, I-I uh... " Oh Gods. He couldn't stand seeing the little skelly so completely broken before him. What was he supposed to do? What could he do? His soul hurt. It fucking HURT. Blue hadn't said a single word, other then suddenly trying to choke back tears as more flooded from his sockets and plipped down onto the floor below. "H-Hey, Blue, listen I'll put my sweater back on alright? Just come on and say somethin' alre-Ghk-?!" His body seized up as he felt two small arms wrapping themselves around his chest, embracing him tenderly.

Blue hugged him. He wanted nothing more than to do that. Nothing else made more sense to him in that moment, than to envelop the larger skeleton in a tender caress. He rested his face in the crook of the red Monster's neck, his nasal cavity pressing against Red's manubrium as he stood on his tiptoes to try and wrap his arms fully around the other's broader rib cage. The other's bones felt so cold under his touch, and he squeezed Red tighter against himself in an instinctual fashion to try and warm him. Cyan tears still glistened in his sockets, a few lingering at the corners, until they too, fell to the floor with their brethren. His breathing had stabilized, but only very minimally, as he had tried to breathe through the wracking sobs before. The sobs, too, had died down to more hushed whimpers now. He nestled his face further under Red's mandible.

He had distinct erudition of what it felt like to be on the verge of falling down. Most of this had succumbed from personal experience with trying to end his life one too many times, or from close calls with Monsters from his part of the Underground. It was a feeling that was almost too familiar to him now. The slow blacking out of everything like a steady vignette, as all surrounding sounds turned into a euphonious hum in the back of your head. The steady beat of a soul faltering as it slowed to a near immobile entity. It engulfed you, completely, taking everything with it as it left nothing but dust in your stead. Sometimes, he found it to be exhilarating in a way. Red hadn't ever made it as far as to actually wind up dusting though, at least from his own doing. He'd never been one for bodily contact, besides relating to more sexual behaviors anyways. One, because he knew he was an ugly and disgusting fat cunt and would end himself before letting anyone see what kind of state his body was really in. And two, most Monsters from his part of the Underground barely ever condoned touching unless it was involved in fighting or, of course, intercourse. What was happening now, however, was something beyond his comprehension. Could a Monster fall… up? That'd be something like, ascending, right? That had to be the only logical explanation for what he felt as Blue's warm embrace tightened around him. His soul had begun to glow a muted red as it lurched itself forward, pressing up against his sternum as if to increase its proximity with the smaller Monster. His arms were still held, frozen in the air, as his chest heaved beneath the smaller's own. Blue was so warm. Was that normal? Could skeletons even produce that much heat? He swallowed, his tongue, which had summoned on its own, felt like cardboard in his mouth.

His whimpers had been suppressed almost completely now, his breaths more steady as he held onto Red's stiff form. After a brief moment, which still seemed farcically prolonged, Blue managed to pry himself away from the larger Monster. He swiped at his still watery sockets with the backs of his hands as he deviatingly backed away. "Oh gosh… I'm sorry, Red. I shouldn't have done that without asking first…" He hiccupped a bit as he moved his arms back in towards himself, fidgeting with his hands over his chest. "I just…" His eyelights shone through their haze as they zoned in on the larger's own frantically darting red pinpricks. Sniffling softly, he let a gentle smile stretch over his mien. "You're so incredibly strong, Red." He ruefully moved his feet beneath him as he rubbed one hand along his arm sheepishly. "I think I should leave you to get ready now." He cast his weakly sparkling eyelights to the ground as he felt his magic flaring over his cheekbones, watching the tips of his boots tap against each other as he moved restlessly about in front of the other Monster. "Also, I forgive you, Red. Thank you for apologizing. I may not have been pleased at what you said, but I would never hold it against you in any way." A loud, obnoxiously relieved laugh rumbled up from his core and bled into the room. "Well, um… I'll go and wait in your room for you, okay?" He cocked his head tentatively to one side as he backed up, feeling for the door handle and grasping it once he found it. His eyelights met Red's and they stood staring at one another for a long minute, until finally Blue had flushed an even brighter blue and broke the gawp, opening the door and letting himself out.

He was going to die. Red was going to freeze to death. The frigid cold that hit his structure was so utterly baffling as the small arms released him from their grasp. His soul, shining dimly, was still shoved up against his chest yearning for the pleasant heat to return. He still felt paralyzed as a firm shiver ran up his spine. Gods. He'd do anything for that intoxicatingly warm and soaring feeling to burrow into his core again. His breathing was still drawn out and haggard as he watched the little skelly back away from him. Hearing Blue's sudden apology and then, wait, did he just call him 'strong'? His arms had dropped to his sides. Red was pretty sure his left socket would forever be screwed up in a half-twitch. Blue forgave him. That easily. He didn't even hold contempt towards the other for all the shit he'd spat like the vile garbage he was. Then Blue was leaving. And Red's subconscious was internally screaming at every nerve in his system to fucking do something about it. To make the pleasantly warm little skelly stay with him. Instead, his body only remained practically motionless, his face just one of moronic stupefaction. His soul thudded audibly against his rib cage as he watched Blue sheepishly move to evacuate the room. After a few long moments of his eyelights finally claiming the gaze of the others, he was left alone in the room, rigid. The silence was tremendous. Within it, he was forced to acknowledge the fact, that perhaps his soul wasn't just yearning for warmth when it had strained towards the other Monster.

Stars! What was he thinking just suddenly hugging Red like that? Sure, if it were one of his close friends or his big brother, it would have been more admissible. Although Red was labeled, in Blue's mind at least, a friend, he hadn't postulated the idea that hugging the larger monster may prove to be even more invasive of the other's space. The smaller skeleton had briskly walked to Red's room, and was currently sitting on the medical cot, rather than the stool that was carelessly shoved away against the corner of the room. He tapped his foot incessantly against the floor. The red skeleton hadn't immediately shoved him off, as much as Blue had anticipated would happen. Instead, the larger Monster had stood frozen in his embrace. Blue racked it up to the other being shocked into stillness, but it didn't help quell his worry that he may have encroached on what Red found comfortable. He exhaled sharply as he rocked back and forth, kicking his legs against the plastic frame of the cot, his eyelights darting from the clock to the door every now and then. His face scrunched up as he remembered seeing the horrendously marred bones in front of him. Did anyone else know about them? About just what physical state Red was in? He remembered reading through the larger Monster's information sheet about him having a younger brother, the same one who had requested him to be brought here. Did he perhaps know? His eyelights snapped to the door as he heard it open, the bottom of it shrilly scraping against the floor. 

Red had remained benumb in place, he figured, for almost 10 minutes before his body decided to eventually comply with him. He scrabbled about before finally grabbing up his discarded sweater on the floor and pulling it over his head. His soul had decided to remain up against his bones even after Blue had left, and was pulsing gently as he recalled the little Monster's arms around him. Gods. Too bad the little angel hadn't nuzzled his pretty face a bit lower on his frame. He was still shocked at the fact that Blue had even found him remotely decent enough to even want to wrap his arms around him. Especially with his figure covered in such repulsive marks. Just reminiscing over it made his soul thrum pleasurably against his rib cage. Once he gleaned that he was decently dressed, well enough for him anyways, he'd rushed out the door, trudging down the hall to his room. Pushing open the door to 348, he felt a twinge deep in his core at the glorious sight before him. The little skelly fidgeted docilely on the feeble white bed in the center. His tongue had formed, again, at the sight. Fuck. He was just on the most emotive fucking rollercoaster of his life today, huh? Before he could stop himself, although he doubted he actually would have tried to, he let out a sordid growl as the door clicked shut behind him. His sharp teeth glinted in the harsh light as his soul glowed under his sweater, beating hard. It resonated throughout his frame. “Fuck, babydoll, if I knew you were just gonna pass on the shower to join me in bed instead-” Without so much as a thought of introspection on his part, he found himself sprinting a recilinear line towards the skelly probably faster than he'd moved in his entire life. His right leg found its place snug up against Blue’s hip as he was half straddling the smaller skeleton over the cot. “I wouldn’t have made ya wait so long.” A sharky grin was plastered over his face as his larger build almost entirely overtook the blue skelly beneath him. His upper body hung over the trapped skelly as he had propped himself up on his elbows that rested at either side of the smaller Monster's head. Fucking goddamn. Blue looked so good like that.

Blue couldn't deny a small part of him that was surprised at Red's sudden intrusion on his space, but a larger part had figured he would do as such. He was beginning to register the fact that the red skeleton certainly liked to tower over him when given the chance. A piece of Blue's subconscious found it thrilling to be overpowered in such a way, but it was drowned out by the more logical parts. Just like how he knew his magic had flared up over his cheekbones for the millionth time, but it was quickly forgotten when he felt the cot become increasingly more unsteady under the added weight of the other Monster over him. He placed the palms of his hands firmly against Red’s chest, gently keeping him from climbing over him any more than he already had. As much as he felt Red could care less about such trivial matters, Blue felt it was necessary to voice his concern about the tottering bedstead beneath him. He let his fingertips on his left hand gently trace along the creases in Red's sweater, the other still planted steadfastly against him. "Don't get the wrong idea, naughty boy." He stuck his tongue out playfully as he felt the red Monster's soul thudding against his palm through the sweater. "Besides, even if you were to join me on here, I'm pretty sure this bed wouldn't be able to withstand both our weight." He traced the wrinkles in the sweater up until the tips of his phalanges trailed their way over Red's face. "Sorry, big boy." His fingers stopped right below where the crack in the red skeleton's skull formed above his supraorbital notch.

If he felt as though he was going to die from freezing to death before, he was certainly going to die from combustion now. It was like he was on fucking fire. But unlike the awful frigidness he'd felt against his bones earlier, this was so fucking good. Blue's warm hands against him as he felt the soft tips of his fingers slithering up higher over his chest. That little blue tongue peeking out from behind pearly white teeth. His own red appendage dangled wetly down over his mandible. "Well, the end result would be me breaking the bed with you on it anyways, sweetheart." Then out of the blue, heh, the feeling of the smaller's fingers were touching his face. The warmth radiating from the small hand was sublime. He was in heaven. That's all there was to it. Fucking Cloud Nine, baby. It was only when Blue’s fingers, which had remained stationary by his right socket for a bit, began to tenderly trace over the crack above it, that Red realized he’d stopped breathing altogether. Why would he touch it like that? Didn’t he find it appalling? Then again, Blue had hugged his completely marred half-naked form in the wash room earlier without hesitation. Red’s ecto-tongue had diminished as his eyelights searched the kind cyan within the smaller’s sockets, trying to find a reason for such deportment.

It wasn’t necessarily deep. He let his forefinger trace along the hairline crack starting at the notch and up over the larger’s frontal lobe. It had a jagged pattern to it, close to dipping into his right socket and then trailing diagonally towards the middle of his forehead, then back to the rightmost side again. The rift was more noticeable and prominent as Blue followed it further up to where the spiderweb of all the small cracks along his skull met. Some bone had chipped off from the center, leaving small cavities between each curve and dip between the fissures. Blue could almost call it pretty, in a way, save for the fact that at one point it must have hurt the larger skeleton incredibly. Unless it still did. He'd taken notice, then, that said skeleton had gone rigidly still. Again. He let his eyelights connect with Red's searching ones, offering a shy smile. "Oh. Sorry. Does that hurt?" He'd raised his fingers a small breadth away from the red Monster's skull, letting them hover over the cracks, but not entirely moving his hand away just yet.

Red’s right socket twitched as he felt Blue’s warm fingers cease their gentle tracing and move slightly away from his skull. He missed them already. He swallowed rigidly at his soul that had lodged itself in his throat. Shaking his head slowly, he responded to the smaller skeleton’s inquiry with an infirm timbre to his voice. “N-Nah. Doesn’t hurt.” As Blue’s fingers began to tread over the cracks once more, Red’s sockets narrowed. If the sound of his fucking soul would stop pounding in his skull, maybe he’d be able to fucking connect the dots on why the hell Blue was doing such a thing. Instead, he found a question he’d been pondering since Blue hugged him in the wash room. “Hey, Blue. What did ya mean by that?” His voice came out more hoarse and uncertain than he’d meant it to. When Blue looked up at him quizzically, he countered with more context. "Back in the other room." 

He paused his ministrations along the other's skull at his inquiry. Oh. He meant when after he'd hugged him. Blue let both his hands fall back towards himself, his forefingers pressing against one another as he smiled meekly up at the larger skeleton. "Well, I meant what I said, Red." He reached out to touch the other's skull, only letting his fingers linger against the others subtle crater of scars atop his skull for a few moments. "That you're so strong." He drew back his hand again, letting his fingers intertwine as he clasped them over his ribcage. There still wasn't that much room between the red Monster and himself on the little medical cot. His eyelights darted to Red's sweater covered chest, his mind picturing the ghastly scene of all the remnants of the larger's various struggles. "I couldn't even begin to imagine what you've gone through to receive such bodily harm like that." He let his hands splay over the sweater, evening out the creases. "Yet, you're still standing. Breathing. Living. It's incredible." He let his eyelights trail up to meet Red's heedful gaze. Blue let his speech take on a powerful tone for the next sentence, full of irrefutable adoration and respect. "You're incredible, Red."

Was the kid this touchy-feely with everyone he knew? Because it really wasn't helping Red's position with the magic quickly coalescing over his pelvis. However, he felt that he hated even the idea of the blue skelly touching anyone but him like this. His sockets had grown wide as Blue prattled on. Incredible? Him? Yeah, the kid was some sort of fucking crazy alright. Still, he felt his face glow a muted red at the smaller's words. They carried such exaltation and confidence within them, that Red found himself desperately searching Blue's face for some sort of evidence that it was all a hoax. It had to be. Red was nothing but a worthless savage of a Monster. Blue knew that. He laughed emptily into the air between them. "Heh. Yeah. Okay." Red had fucking strangled him the first day they met, and then tried to jump him not even a day later. He was just a shitty and depraved fucking bastard. Even still, he found nothing from the other that could be used as evidence against the words that had tumbled from the skelly's mouth. His pretty little face held just as much reverence as his words did, and Red felt his soul flip as it glowed even brighter. He'd tensed up as he still towered over the smaller skeleton on the bed, desperately suppressing the magic quickly forming in his pants. Scoffing against the feeling in his chest, he twisted his eyelights out of the smaller's line of sight. "You're too pure for you're own fuckin' good." After a few moments of silence, he let them hesitantly return to the sparkling cyan eyelights still graciously looking over his face. "Ya know that?"

"It certainly wouldn't be the first time I've been told something similar." He chuckled lightly as Red brought their eyelights together again. Blue could easily recollect how many times he'd heard from his own brother how he was 'too good for the world'. He couldn't agree less, however. Even if that sort of thinking did hold semblance towards how he acted, then fine. He'd go out and be 'too good' until there was too much good in the world itself. He closed his eyelids as he shrugged, as minimally as he could still being almost fully under the red Monster. "Besides, I'm not being 'pure'. I'm just being honest." He removed his hands from the other skeleton's chest, struggling to see the clock past the larger form over him. 3:16 p.m. Gosh! It was that late already? More than likely, Red hadn't even had anything to stomach yet. "I bet you haven't eaten anything all day, have you?" He looked back to the larger Monster. "You must be starving." His voice was edged with concern. "The omelettes I made this morning have got to be stone cold by now though." He added with a huff of dismay.

Red quirked a brow bone as Blue proffered matter-of-factly that he was just stating what he believed. He feared that the smaller skelly would soon be able to hear the beating of his soul as much as he could in his own skull. Damn. And the kid brought him more food, huh? With how Blue was splayed out under him, he couldn't deny he was famished. Although, it was for something completely different. "Well, ain't it a good thing I have all I want to eat laid out for me right here." It was his turn now to run his fingers along the little skelly's skull. Holy shit he was so smooth. Soft. He'd noticed it before whenever he'd reach out to take hold of the smaller's jaw however many times already, but it was still utterly baffling. "After that pie ya made me, I've been wantin' to taste cherries again." He licked over each sharp point of his teeth as he pressed further down over Blue since nothing was pushing against him now. "So, mind if I have yours?" The cot rocked heavily as more unwarranted weight was added.

There we go. Blue wouldn't be himself without the rush of bright magic over his face because of Red's unsightly behavior and even more vulgar speech, right? So here he was. Good ol' Blueface. The feeling of the other's claws over his face was becoming progressively more expected. The increasingly doddering frame of the bed was making itself known before he could instill just how embarrassingly indecent Red's comment really was, however. Time to trample Red's incessant attempts at making him a meal. Again. He pressed his hands against the larger's frame again, lifting himself up off the cot as he pressed forward. "Oh no, you dirty boy. Not this again." He was slowly being alleviated of the other's towering form. He managed to finally prop himself up so he was more or less sitting with Red looking over him on the plastic-framed cot. Clicking his own ecto-tongue in false exasperation, he let it slip out slowly as he cocked his head indignantly up at the other's blazing eyelights. "And yes. I do mind, actually." Blue took this chance to try and slip out of the other's grasp on his mandible once more. 

Fuck. That glistening blue tongue was gonna make him lose his shit. "Fuck, angel. With all this touchy-feely shit you've been throwin' my way today, it's really been makin' me lose my tongue. Won't be able to taste nothin,' if it's missin'." He drew the smaller skelly's face forward as he bent in closer to him, opening his sharky maw. Contrary to his claim, his long red tongue lolled out from the depths of his own mouth. "Let's just share yours, yeah?"

The Humans could probably use his forever brightly flushed skull as an endless light source. Blue's soul skipped as he watched the red ecto-appendage fall out of the larger's gaping jaw, just inches in front of his face. He managed to swiftly remove himself from Red's grasp, before the distance between them could be enclosed further and he ultimately would become a snack for the red Monster, in one way or another. He moved a few steps away from the larger who had turned, following his every move. Blue pressed his forefinger into the moist red tongue still hanging out of Red's jaws. "Well, this here, seems very contradicting towards your statement, naughty boy." He drew his finger back from the warm glowing appendage, rubbing the slickness from it onto his scrub top as he turned away from the concupiscent skeleton. "I have something else that can join that devious tongue of yours in your mouth instead." He knelt down by the small table near the cot, shuffling through his white canvas tote on the floor. "I'm glad you're still in the mood for cherries, though. I thought I'd try and do something with the leftover pie, rather than let it go to waste." He pulled out an exceptionally large plastic dish, smiling up at Red vauntingly.

Perhaps, one could say, Red was already very much trying too hard to appeal to the smaller skeleton in one way or another. One could also say, perhaps, that he very placidly found the little blue skelly quite physically attractive. And maybe, possibly, he was also starting to lean towards Blue's way of speaking and mentality as well. Red wasn't one who was used to such actions and words. His part of the Underground was always out for blood. Words that held such fondness and undeniable cheerfulness were scarce to the point of being non-existent there. Hell, even conversations between his brother and himself rarely ever held a single decent word amongst them. At first, Red wasn't so sure what the hell the smaller Monster was up to. He was used to having being treated with kindness ultimately ending with him getting stabbed in the back, immediately after starting to feel some sort of semblance of trust. So, he decided that trusting no one was the best course of action. Yet, somehow, he felt Blue was different. He was undoubtedly kind, pure, headstrong, and willing to counter Red with all he had to prove it. It was… a nice change. Sorta. Maybe. He still was no way near able to fully trust the kid. Still, he found he was the most relaxed around Blue than he had been around any monster in a long time. Even his own high and mighty jackass of a little brother. Well, even if he hadn't gotten everything he felt about the little blue Monster sorted out, and probably never would even try to since he was a lazy fuck, he could easily understand how he felt about the amorous acts Blue showcased. And holy hell, he felt fucking hot as fuck when the blue skeleton pressed a slender finger into his tongue. Shit. It tasted good. Real fucking good. Like, he already knew he wanted more but now he wanted MORE, good. Did the rest of his fingers taste like that? The rest of his body? Fuck. Still, he found the strength to somehow draw his tongue back into his mouth as he watched the skelly proudly display a new covered concoction for him. "Oh yeah? What is it this time then? I know, whatever it is, it'll taste fucking sublime if your delicious little fingers touched it." He smirked sharply, his sockets growing half-lidded as he leaned back against the now vacant white bed. One thing he could doubtlessly ascertain, was he could very well get used to the pampering and cooking the little skelly did for him.

4:04 p.m. Placing the container on the little bedside table, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Blue concluded he'd more than likely be late getting home again, and decidedly agreed to text him a real quick 'I'll be heading home a bit late again. Sorry, Papy!' before his brother could start to worry if he lost track of time. Shoving it away once he'd sent the message, he bounced over behind the small table, placing his hands on either side of the container upon it. He chuckled smugly to himself as he went to rest a hand at his hip. "I took into consideration your indelicate wish to eat 'cake' yesterday, and decided to try my hand at making something a bit creative." He pulled the lid off, displaying the sweet-smelling dessert out towards the larger, hubristically. "It's a cherry pie dump cake!" He leaned over the table towards the larger, who was eyeing it with apodictic interest. Letting his chest puff out, he looked up into the other's eyelights. "So instead of 'my cherry', you can pop this in your mouth instead. How does that sound?" He sneered wantonly at the other, leaning away from the red Monster before he could possibly try and reach for him again.

The blue skelly had to get off on making him literally on the verge of popping a boner every five fucking seconds. Why else would the little angel keep playing with him like that? Unless, he was some sort of dirty little slut behind that sweet saintly facade. Which made Red want to know all the more about just what else Blue was hiding from him. "Well, shit. Puttin' the two choices side by side, I'd say I really got the short end of the fuckin' stick with this one." He couldn't deny that he was actually ravenous as all hell. But, if the little shit was gonna constantly use his sexy little quips, and even sexier languid movements, he might as well throw more kindle on the fire burning in his chest. And, not to mention, his pants. He dug his claws, boorishly, into the delicate dessert before him, taking a hefty amount into his palm. "Well, it's whatever." He raised it up to his jaw, running his tongue over the heap of crumbled fruity cake in his hand. "I can always pretend it tastes just as good as you do in my head." Shoving his mouth into the mass of moist cherry filling slipping through his fingers, his eyelights darkened as he pressed the juiciest parts over his teeth intentionally. It actually tasted really fucking good. But that was probably inevitable when you put something as good as pie with something even better like vanilla cake. And, even more so, the fact that both were made by the already quite culinarily talented blue skeleton. The red liquid ran down over his jaw as he watched the little skelly shiver at the filthy actions. He faintly thought that blueberries would work better. Much better.

Oh stars! Did Red have any ounce of decency inside of him? Blue shuddered as he watched the glistening ecto-appendage lap up the fruit juice between his claws, crumbs from the golden cake sticking to the other's cheekbones as he shoved his face into the mass of the dessert in his palm. His magic had spread from his cheeks to cover the entirety of his face in a bright cyan. He tore his eyelights away, as he felt his soul thump mightily in his ribcage. Blue cast his eyelights to the floor in the hopes of regaining some of his composure, an unsightly scene of cherry liquid and dollops of crust and cake crumbs piling up on the white tiles meeting his gaze. With his blush forever staining his visage, he fought himself to bring his own hazy eyelights up to Red's imprudent countenance. "I know you're dirty, but you're getting it all over the floor!" He crossed his arms shakily as he was slowly regaining his earlier state of collectedness. "I don't know what you expect to do about this, but someone needs to clean it up." He leaned over the table again, his head tilted as he somehow managed to haughtily smirk at the larger Monster. His soul thudded loudly behind his sternum. "I bet you want me to bend over and clean it all up for you. Don't you, bad boy?" Blue knelt down as he took several napkins from the white tote bag, quickly cleaning up the mess on the floor. He looked up at Red whilst on his knees, giving the most unimpressed look he could muster from being in such a position. "You better not think I'll be the one to clean that mess you've gotten all over your face, too, Red." At uttering the larger Monster's name, he plastered a lecherous appearance towards the other from the tiles below. Letting his own tongue, that had summoned from the thrumming soul in his chest, run over his teeth mockingly, he stood back up once the floor was clean of the dessert morsels.

How the hell did he keep doing that? Red was already near bursting at the fucking seams, or well at least, through his fucking pants. But Blue just kept it going back and forth like it was nothing. He wondered vaguely if the kid had as much stamina and energy while in bed. Or if he was a sadist of some sort. That'd be fucking hot as hell. He squashed down the thought as he felt the pressure rising below his waistband, making himself work overtime in trying to shove the urge to ram the small skelly over the table into the back of his skull. He could fantasize about that later. Alone. Hopefully, with his dick in his hand if he was able to somehow get Blue to agree to leave the restraints off him. He'd forgotten before, so maybe there was hope there somewhere. As much of the masochist that he would undoubtedly agree that he was, he could only go so long without some sort of stimulation. Especially after the long few days of sensual ministrations the pretty blue angel kept pressuring against him. Plus, the sight of Blue looking up at him from the floor with his soft hazy eyelights and flirty blue tongue could fuel his fantasies for weeks. Months, even. He dejectedly ascertained that Blue had gotten to his feet far too quickly. After he had cleaned his claws of the handful of cake, he had let it fall to his side, his face still covered in sticky cherry juice and cake crumbles. "Sh-Shit." He forced himself to steady his voice. "I uh… yeah. I got it." Swallowing thickly as Blue stared hard up at him, he let his tongue drag over the remaining pieces of cake covering the entirety of his mouth. Then, ungracefully, brought the back of one of his clawed hands up to wipe at the remaining bits and saliva that coated his face afterwards.

Blue cringed at Red's slipshod attempt at cleaning his face. Still, he had made Red fall silent, for the most part before him again, and so was reveling in the fact. He placed the cake away off to the side as he chose to settle himself on top of the table to sit. Crossing his arms, he jutted his mandible out as he pompously smiled up at the practically speechless red skeleton. "Good." He kicked his feet back and forth as he sat upon the tabletop. "From how you so daintily shoveled it into your mouth, I assume it was pretty good? I only had my brother taste a bit of it before I left, and he claimed it had a nice flavor. I think the textures work well together, too." He crossed his legs as he watched Red flump down onto the rickety medical cot in front of him, still letting them swing beneath himself. He closed his sockets as he hummed a bit through his speech. "I think I'll leave it here for you, if that's alright?" He sighed through his nasal cavity as he leaned back on the tabletop a bit. "I'd leave the omelettes, too, but I doubt they'd let you out of here or if Undihre would be willing to go heat them up for you when you'd want to eat them." He scratched gently at the undermost part of his mandible as he thought it over.

Red's mouth quirked at the corners as he saw Blue's small frame hop up onto the wooden table at his bedside. He let himself fall back on the cot, not caring in the slightest at the way it rocked weakly under his body. Furrowing his brow bones, he watched over the little skelly's change in disposition from distinct coquettishness back to it's usual cheeriness. He felt himself easily relaxing amidst Blue's humming and gentle tone of voice as he went on about leaving food for the other. "Nah. Leave it here for me. I could care less if they're cold or not anyways." He let his eyelights roam over the other's with mute appreciation shining through them. "If you made 'em, they'll taste fucking great regardless. Plus, they'll be somethin' that'll make me think about you." He winked lazily, as he crossed his arms behind his head, leaning further back on the plastic-framed bed. "Not that a pretty little angel like you isn't interrupting my dirty mind every chance it gets." His eyelights zoned in on the smaller Monster's legs dangling down over the tabletop. "Not that I care, but why ya sittin' on the table? Doesn't seem somethin' a clean-freak like you would do." The lids over his sockets drooped down as he brought his eyelights up towards the sparkling cyan ones across from him.

His soul was still thrumming in his chest, but it was a pleasant feeling. At Red's praise towards his cooking, it thudded deftly against his bones, and Blue let a blinding smile take over his features. "Ah! Thank you." He giggled timidly as he rocked on the wooden table. "I'm glad you think so highly of my cooking skills! I personally think cold eggs are awful, but it's still very flattering regardless. I'll make sure to leave everything here for you then." He rolled his eyelights in his skull at Red's salacious declaration. They then darted from Red's ones as he eyed the shunned stool against the far right of the room. "Well, I would sit on the stool over there, but the entire upper part is at the point of breaking off for some reason. And, I'm not going to be joining you on that rickety old cot again any time soon." He slipped the tip of his tongue out through his teeth before laughing lightly as he continued to move about restlessly on the table. "So, the table shall suffice for now."

Red snorted to himself as he recalled the earlier scene when the fish bitch nearly bit the dust. Too bad she didn’t, really. Whatever. "Well, if you really need somewhere to sit-" Red pressed his tongue up against his sharky grin as he cocked his head towards the blue skelly. "My face is always an option." He laughed deeply, the cot shaking under him as he further slouched onto it. Although his soul was thumping without end under his sweater, he felt so enigmatically at ease just talking about nothing with the smaller Monster. His mind raced back towards yesterday's events and what had ultimately led to them. He also couldn't disavow the fact that his soul had yearned for something more than just the welcoming heat the little skelly produced, just hours prior to their meaningless banter now. Almost every fiber of his being was against what he wanted to say. What he wanted in general. Almost. There was still a small piece that had suddenly and nonconsensually taken root up in his soul that needed to say it aloud. To maybe try for something he'd scoff at any other day. A notion that he'd literally laughed at yesterday. "Blue." His voice rumbled against the comfortable silence that had grown between them, as he grit his teeth together. Of course it was going to be a fucking bitch to speak his mind when it actually came to something even remotely austere.

Blue laughed airily, shaking his head at Red's expectedly ribald response. "Oh, but of course." He swayed back and forth on the tabletop, chuckling lightly to himself. His speech dripping with an obvious sarcastic timbre. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind for next time." Through the small period of enjoyable quiet that hung in the air around the two Monsters, Blue found himself humming a gentle tune to himself again. It was a song he'd never heard whilst in the Underground before. As difficult as moving to the surface had been, he couldn't deny that he loved how much diversity the humans had in everything. Clothes, food, music and so much more. At Red's sudden break through the veil of quietude, he stopped, looking over the larger skeleton's deeply musing visage. "Yes? What is it, Red?" His eyelids narrowed over his sockets in befuddlement.

His head fell back heavily against the crumpled sheets behind him. God dammit. Was it possible to learn telepathy out of sheer will? He really didn't want to voice his fucking stupid dillusions. Slipping his sockets closed, he tapped his claws against the plastic banisters at the sides of the cot, listening to the sporadic sound of them against the resounding clock ticking in the, now, not so pleasant silence. "I…" He cleared his throat, letting one of his clawed hands dig into the hard plastic of the banister it was resting on. "I think I want to. At least… TRY, anyways.." His voice was tinny, but the deep rumble was more prominent from how low in pitch it had fallen. 

Blue didn't feel comfortable interrupting Red when he looked so serious. So, instead, he remained silent, looking over the larger with what he hoped was blatant enough encouragement shining from within his blue eyelights. He had stopped the majority of his movements on the table, just swaying his crossed legs slowly under him as he listened attentively.

Red laughed awkwardly bringing the claw, not currently making a victim out of the plastic surrounding the frame of the bed, up to his face as he covered it in frustrated embarrassment. Gods. This was so fucking stupid. What the fuck was he even saying? Blue probably thought he was a goddamn idiot. Not that he'd be wrong in any way. Still, he found the words tumbling from his mouth before he could force himself to snap his jaws shut. "I'm not one who's too keen on the idea of trustin' just anybody." His left foot had begun to tap almost soundlessly against the tile floor. "Hell, I've barely been able to trust my own fuckin' brother for half my goddamn life. Let alone fuckin' trust him at all now." His soul's glow had faded exponentially, but it still pounded with just as much fervor as earlier. "And as much as I keep tellin' myself, as much as I fuckin' know, that the whole idea of it is just fuckin' stupid…" He peeked an eyelight through his claws, that still covered his face, towards Blue who was staring intensely at him laying back on the cot. "I still want to try… to try and be your… ugh. 'Friend'?" The dim eyelight flickered over to the time on the clock. 5:12 p.m. He let the clawed hand over his face fall back to the opposite banister beside him as he let his gaze fully fall on the smaller's brightly lit face. "Shit. I dunno. I just… I just feel like…" He hunched over on the bed, it squeaked indignantly under him as he shrugged, his brow bones furrowed as his eyelights remained on the smaller Monster. "I want to trust you."

Blue's soul thudded aloud, reverberating in his skull at Red's proclaimed wish. He felt the excitement rush through him with almost enough vigor to make him jump to his feet, but, alternately, he sighed gently through his nasal cavity. The emboldened smile was still very prominent over his features, but it had brightened even further with a glint of pure gaiety. His eyelights had also flickered to the clock once he'd seen Red check it over. Pushing himself down off the table, he shuffled closer to the red Monster, tapping the tips of his boots together as he beamed brightly up at him. "I know, Red." He quickly gathered up the unneeded remnants over the table, replacing the lid over the cake's container and placing down another atop it before pulling the nearly empty white tote over his shoulder. "You're already a labeled as a friend in my book anyways, and for some reason, I feel as though I can trust you. Even taking into consideration some of the things you've tried to do to me already." He tittered sweetly as he stood straight, his chest puffing out just slightly as his eyelights sparkled with determination. Blue leaned over the small white bed, letting his arms wrap around the larger as best as he could manage with him practically lying down. "So, I'll prove to you, that you can trust me, too." He let it linger for only a few meager seconds before he was pulling back, sliding the falling bag back up over his left scapula. He skipped his way over to the door, but turned around to face the other skeleton. "Well, I told my older brother that I'd be getting home late anyways, but I should be on my way before it gets out of hand again." He laughed as he tottered back and forth on the heels of his boots. "Try and at least eat a little something if you run out of what I made you, okay? I don't want to come in to see you half-starved." He slipped the tip of his tongue out of his mouth as he swayed complacently in front of the doorway. "Let alone, have to deal with you try to savagely devour me, like all your measly attempts up to now, because of it."

For once, he felt there was no need to search for the truth in the other's eyelights. Red didn't flinch this time. He withstood the urge to pull the smaller Monster over him more fully. Still, he didn't reciprocate it other than leaning slightly into the small embrace from the little skeleton. Their souls briefly thrummed in tandem as the blue skelly's chest met his own for a moment. Shit. The cold hit his structure almost instantaneously once Blue backed away. He shuddered against the biting chill along his bones as he watched Blue practically dancing in front of the doorway. Red didn't even try and fight the amused smirk that grew over his face. "Oh, no, dollface. You already know that even if I was the most well fed Monster on this fuckin' planet, I'd take any fuckin' chance I'd get to taste your delectable little fingers on my tongue again." He winked as his grin grew more cock-sure, letting his own tongue out to emphasize. "Or more." He drew back into the cot again, his claws still lightly tapping against the plastic on either side as he forced the ache in his soul aside at watching Blue move to leave out the door.

The smaller skeleton stepped through the doorway, rolling his eyelights back at the other as he clicked his tongue. "Of course you would." He replied softly as he exhaled in mock exasperation at the other. Slowly, he began to close the door, waving at Red as it began to shut. "I'll see you Monday, Red! Have a good night!" Once the door had slid firmly shut, he twisted on his heels and skipped down the hall. His soul felt light in his chest. Red was making an attempt towards actually trusting him. This was perfect! He could only hope that nothing detrimental to this tremendous development would happen over the weekend. Maybe he could make a surprise visit to the third floor while his brother was in physical therapy. Would Red like that? He'd have to find a way to make an excuse to his brother for leaving him with Dr. Liri on his own, but he could do it. It might also ultimately prove to Red, even if only marginally, that he was serious about showing that he was trustworthy and wanted this friendship to succeed between them. He skipped into the apartment building, hopping each step of the way to the fourth floor, as the elevator had been busted in the building for a few weeks now. He stopped in front of Papy's and his shared apartment, settling on an agreement to the proposition in his head. He then pushed his way into the small living space to greet his brother, who would no doubt be overjoyed at actually seeing him home before 6 o'clock for once this week.

He would do it! For sure!

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Wait a minute. Monday? Why the fuck would he have to wait so long to see- Oh fuck. That's right. Blue doesn't work the weekends. He'd said that yesterday. The dim glow radiating from his soul had basically diminished as he dreaded the next few days in his skull. Both of Red's clawed hands moved up scritch at the scar on his frontal lobe. Oh yeah. He looked down at both of his still unrestrained wrists. His soul thudded hard beneath his sternum as he smiled devilishly to himself, leaning back as he let his claws run down over his ribs to his hips. Even if he wasn't able to see the blue angel in person for the next couple days, he could at least let his hands help him filter through the vulgar images of the sweet little skeleton that he'd kept holed up in his sick mind. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad; the next few days. His eyelights darkened as he pictured the lecherous look Blue gave him while on his knees earlier. His teeth glinted in the white lights overhead as he licked a line of red saliva over them. Yeah. He'd have enough dirty thoughts to keep him busy for a while. The heat that had fed into Red's bones made his entire body shiver as he imagined Blue's arms around him again, his sweet little blue tongue that kept teasing him every chance it got, the breathy little laughs that emitted deep from his core. His magic had easily coalesced under his shorts, and he ran a claw over the slowly growing tent within them. 

Enough for a long fucking while. For sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a fun fact
> 
> When I was choosing names for this story, I wanted it to be a dark joke of sorts
> 
> So idk if anyone has caught on but "a cut above the rest" is paying homage to the fact that Red cuts himself aha like 'cut above the wrist' ahaha... Wow that's... That's awful :"3
> 
> Well off to go and start on the next probably even longer chapter cause they're far from getting any smaller rip


	6. Resist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stars, huh? Gods, when was the last time he actually took the time to look at them? Right when his brother and himself first got to the Surface, yeah, but since then, everything had been going right back into the shitter. Red hadn't even thought about them, let alone cared, as he found himself struggling through life here with Boss almost as much as in his Underground. He… He missed watching them. 
> 
> "Um… No. Actually, that sounds really.. Uh… cool. I like the stars a lot, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okok first things first  
THERE IS SMUT IN THIS CHAPTER  
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
> 
> I'm sorry this took friggin forever! And it's only a bit over 16,000 words again, too
> 
> I had a hard time figuring out how I wanted their conversation to go about and how I wanted it to end
> 
> But I'm happy with it now :3
> 
> Here's a [song](https://youtu.be/cwBdKC4EwSs) that inspired the chapter name AGAIN
> 
> Also [here](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8c/c3/5c/8cc35c949e15586f3350f7f9ceea8e78.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.pinterest.com/pin/277393658272030663/&h=394&w=480&tbnid=azAfanmNycvFHM&tbnh=203&tbnw=248&usg=AI4_-kS19LZ-Zmf84fZlbSL1M0c-WWRLzA&vet=1&docid=1ffiELWxxLpH7M) is what Blue is wearing rip

The points of his teeth imbedded themselves into the pristine cervical vertebrae of the neck beneath them. A pleasurable shock wracked his body as he licked over each intervertebral disc; the sweet taste of each of them pleasantly lining his mouth. His claws had begun to run along the light blue fabric, dipping into each crevice of the figure that remained hidden beneath. A small breathy gasp from above made him dig the tips of his claws into the polyester scrubs, leaving small tears in their wake as he raked them down over the smaller frame pinned under him. 

'Red, plea-ahn! W-Wait-! Mhnn..!' 

Fucking hell his voice sounded fucking exquisite all breathless and strained like that. He trailed his tongue up over the grooves in the small neck, reluctantly releasing it of the vice grip of his teeth as he relished in the shudders from the lithe Monster under him. 'Why should I?’ The claws from his right hand had trailed up to the Monster's clavicle, gently tracing it along until it followed up his neck to the undermost part of his mandible. ‘Those noises you’re makin’ sound fuckin’ fantastic.’ He bucked his hips hard, feeling the other’s pelvis press against his own in a deliciously electrifying friction. This drove the smaller of the two to elicit a hitched moan as he tensed up under the red skeleton. Releasing an animalistic growl under his breath, Red ran his tongue under the jaw of the little skelly as he continued the uneven pace of grinding their still, peskily, clothed hips together. ‘Makes me wanna hear more of ‘em.’ He offered a presumptuously dark simper down at the heavily flushed blue skeleton beneath him. Red’s claws under the other's jaw now dug into it gently, holding him in place as he licked a wet red line up the left side of his skull. "Fuck, you taste good…" Without warning, a second tongue had slipped it’s way past his sharp jaws and joined his own within his mouth. His soul pounded unbearably fast under his sternum, as he inhaled deeply through his nasal cavity at the surprising but welcome intrusion. The smaller blue tongue tasted immaculate, sweet and minutely tart like fresh blueberries, and he found himself easily winning a battle for dominance against it as he fought to taste it more. The smaller skeleton’s muffled moaning through their heated kiss reverberated down his throat as he turned his head to try at an angle to further deepen it. He immediately fought the compelling urge to whimper at the sudden loss of the other’s appendage between his teeth as the smaller Monster suddenly pulled away. His darkened eyelights fell upon the little skelly’s own that were withholding a strikingly lustful gaze, stars sparkling through the cyan haze within them. His soul skipped a beat as he watched the small trail of purple, that was still connecting their mouths, being eagerly lapped up by the blue Monster below him. The other skeleton’s voice was far more sultry than someone who usually held such an innocent disposition should be. The little skelly’s sockets were half-lidded as he licked the remainder of their shared kiss off his jaw, chuckling with a gentle timbre in his tone from the look of Red’s now completely ravenous eyelights.

‘And you taste fantastic.’

Red’s breathing faltered as he felt one of the smaller Monster’s hands travel down over his chest, coming to rest on the prominent glowing bulge underneath his black shorts. His own clawed hands had both come to rest at the other’s hips, and he dug them into the soft fabric there, deftly squeezing the small iliac crests underneath. The blue skelly’s eyelights twinkled with a hint of mischievousness within them, and he winked haughtily up at Red as he poked his tongue out between his teeth, keeping it in the larger’s line of sight. Slender warm fingers slipped under the waistband of his shorts, nimbly splaying themselves over his hidden girth.

‘Makes me wanna taste more…’

And then Red was cumming into his own hand for the fifth time that morning. And the seventeenth time overall from last night. His wrist hurt like a bitch from how much he'd jerked it in a short amount of time, but the afterglow was worth it. And that imagery in his head. So fucking worth it. However, he found himself slowly losing interest with menial masturbation, as much as his vulgar mind kept pushing more fap material to the forefront. It was different imagining such sexual ministrations amongst his own head, without having the actual motivation for such thoughts in the non-flesh with him. Great. Not even an entire day had gone by yet, and he was already ruing the absence of the sweet blue angel. He rubbed his clawed hand clean of the red jizz off onto his shorts before crossing his arms behind his head as he laid back on the bed. He had already eaten almost everything the little skelly had made him, too. What the fuck was he gonna do for the next- he glanced to the clock; 1:22 p.m.- however many fucking hours he was gonna be awake? He tapped his left foot against the tile floor as he trailed his eyelights over the textured ceiling above. He wondered what Blue was doing right now. What they would be doing if he was here instead. What they could do if Blue wasn't such a tease. A fucking sexy little tease. One of his hands had removed itself from it's spot behind his head as he ran his fingers over his pubis in his shorts, his magic coalescing over it again. Gods he wished he had more to work with, like how Blue looked under his scrubs. Probably pristine white bone. Unmarred and pure, just like him. Well, he'd just have to work with what he had. Another round wouldn't kill him, right? He laughed at the idea of getting carpal tunnel from masturbating too much. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, he figured, as he slid his hand into his shorts again.

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“What have I told you about smoking in the apartment, Papy?” It was nearing the time the two skeleton brothers would have to be on their way to the clinic for the older’s physical therapy session. Blue had both his arms crossed tightly in front of his chest as he glowered at said skeleton in which he was referring. After he had made it home last night, through their usual chatting over dinner, Blue had decided to do some residual cleaning around the apartment before they had to leave the next morning. He hadn’t been able to do so the past few days since his schedule had been impeded upon by a certain troublesome Monster as of late. Plus, given the fact that his brother could only do so much while practically wheelchair-bound, their living area was starting to slowly slip into an ill-favored mess, save for a better word. Although, Blue figured, even if his brother happened to not be confined to his chair at the moment, with how much laziness the taller usually exhibited even beforehand, he figured the place would have begun a downward spiral regardless. Once his older brother and himself had decided upon settling for the somewhat slipshod apartment up on the fourth floor, Blue had put his foot down on trying to at least maintain some distinction of cleanliness within their scanty new living area. One of the rules, he had forthrightly insisted upon, was no smoking inside. Of course, being as generous as he was, he only agreed to his brother’s pressing pleads for appeasement on the matter as long as Papy was to only smoke in his own room. With the door closed. And the window open. However, the patch of soft ash littering a particular spot below the right arm of their tawdry loveseat, did not go unnoticed by his keen eyelights once he’d awoken that morning. He had cleaned up the small bit of ash, tsking at his brother’s imperviousness at even trying to somewhat hide it, and waited for the older skeleton to head out of his room. Once the orange-clad Monster had finally revealed himself, a few hours after Blue had cleaned up the majority of their home to an acceptable degree, the smaller of the two had immediately stared him down, demanding an explanation for his earlier finding.

Oh crap. How did he find out? Paps was mentally chastising himself as he had initially thought he'd done a decent enough job in making sure none of the ash got on the couch. He had even taken the ashtray from his room out into the living room and placed it right over the arm of their sofa so he wouldn’t fortuitously manage to leave a trace by reaching over to the end table for it instead. Still, even with as much effort Paps put towards hiding it, the invariably perceptive eyelights of his little brother were, without fail, able to make such actions futile in the long run. Just another reason as to why his bro was so cool. That, and an unyielding detriment to his bad habits. Blue was even tapping his foot against the floor as he had his arms crossed in front of him, his mouth exhaling a soft huff as he awaited his older brother to answer him. Well, maybe he could just try acting coy, on the off chance that Blue was just trifling with him. Which was highly unlikely, but still worth a shot. Probably. That, or he just liked to toy with his little bro for the heck of it. Why couldn’t it be both? He rubbed a finger over his zygomatic arch as he leaned his head back, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as he cast his lazy eyelights up to meet his brother’s. “That I can only do it in my room if I want to smoke inside. I know. Why do you ask?”

Blue rolled his eyelights, sighing in odium at the taller skeleton’s scantily obvious charade. He promptly disrupted his foot from it’s incessant tapping against the floor, to have both tips of his sock-covered toes begin to rub atop one another instead. “Oh, really? Well, if you know that so well, would you mind telling me why I found a pile of cigarette ash on the floor between the end table and the couch this morning?” Gesticulating his arms towards the furniture in question, he raised a brow bone at the older's incredulity. Tilting his head to one side, he began to sway a bit in place, forcing himself to remain stoic, but the tiniest trace of a smile was attempting to upturn the corners of his mouth. He always had a hard time staying mad at Papy, even when it came to the one rule he was so insistent upon. "I'm not mad, Papy, I just want to know why." His eyelights flew to the ground as he let one arm fall from their crossed position to rub at the other still over his chest. "It's kind of the only thing I ask of you, so, yeah. You know."

Ah. So that’s why he'd missed it. He couldn’t check the floor too well because he feared if he fell forward, it’d be a bitch, mind his french, to try and get himself back into his chair. Especially by himself, anyways. At the moment, Jaxy, or well, Dr. Liri had insisted he remain seated for the most part, and only to remove himself from the chair either when he went to bed so that there would be something to elevate himself with, or with the help of another if need be. Much to his chagrin on the latter. Oh good. Now he felt like a dick as he watched his baby brother's demeanor drastically fall in front of him. It was true that Blue rarely asked much of him, and asked even less after that incident a little under three months ago now. When Blue tore his eyelights away, Paps cleared his throat, resting his hands over his legs as he went to apologize. "Ah geez. I know bro, but it was just real cold last night and you weren't home so-" Blue had looked back up at him with an unamused flare in his eyelights, and Paps scratched at the back of his skull, tearing his own away this time. "Hey, I know. I know. You don't want any 'butts' on the matter. I'm sorry, bro. If I really want to smoke outside my room, I'll make sure to 'ash' you next time. Alright?" He smirked pridefully as he saw the dissatisfaction on his brother's face contort to more of an amused annoyance instead. 

In a flash, it was broken completely. He had tried, he really did, to keep his serious composure, but once his brother was interweaving his vapid puns into his arbitrary apology, a big smile completely overtook his features. "Oh stars, Papy. Those were awful!" He laughed light-heartedly as he shook his head, both his hands resting at his hips. As terribly mediocre his older brother’s jokes could be, they never failed to make him laugh with how ridiculous they always were. He flippantly turned from the other skeleton as he went to go finish getting ready to leave. “But thank you.” He appreciated the fact that his brother still felt quite reprieved by doing such a thing, and even through the hilarity in the taller’s apology, he knew it held utmost rectitude. After pulling the little white tote over his shoulder, and hastily pulling his boots on, he turned back to his brother who had wheeled himself further into the living room. His eyelights checked the clock hanging lowly on the wall behind the sofa. 1:32 p.m. They had more than enough time, but it wouldn’t hurt to head down to the clinic early. Especially considering that they would have to head out of the emergency exit on their floor to make use of the grotty portable ramp located on every few flights of stairs for his brother’s chair without hindering anyone using the staircase inside the building. “Are you all ready to go, Papy?”

He watched with subdued mirth as Blue laughed irately at his corny jokes. As much as he liked saying them himself, he loved the fact he could break through to his baby brother with such trite quips. Watching his little brother struggle to fight the urge to laugh as he rolled his sparkling eyelights in mock annoyance was just a plus. Besides, annoying their little brothers is what big brothers were for. Paps had opted, as he usually did, to prepare himself with as minimal effort as possible. He'd thrown the same orange sweatshirt on over his head, along with the same khakis he'd worn for the past two days in a row. Of course, he'd tell none of this to Blue, for the younger would immediately tear off the grungy clothes from his frame right then and there, insisting they be cleaned. It's not that he didn't like any of his other clothes and whatnot, but this was just comfortable to him. And easy to slip on while propped up on a bed. He squinted his sockets for a fraction of a second as he watched his little brother take up the white tote over his arm. Huh. Deciding to leave it alone, for now, he just smiled reposefully at the other. "Yeah, I'm good. You wanna head the long way, or should we try for the back alley again?" He forced back the growing untoward feeling that churned in his core. The backstreets weren't the best of places, by far, but Blue had been frequenting them more often insisting that they weren't that bad. However, he knew his baby bro insisted a LOT of things weren't that bad. When, in retrospect, they usually were. 

Once Papy had wheeled up next to him, Blue had grabbed the keys to their apartment on the rung by the door. He held it open for his older brother to wheel himself through, and then stepped out to lock it behind him. "Let's go the long way today! We have enough time, anyways. Plus, we haven't been on a walk together in a while, so it'll be fun!" He hummed as he walked beside his brother down the grungy hallway to the emergency exit at the far end. The descent from the rickety metal stairs outside was always an interesting endeavor, with Blue nearly keeling over in trepidation at the thought that one of his brother's wheels could get stuck between the flimsy aluminum of the makeshift ramps the complex owners had installed. Still, they made it down in one piece, and were on their way. "I can push you along if your arms get tired, okay, Papy?" He strode along beside the taller Monster as they turned from the street of their complex down a straightaway towards the clinic. Some monsters and humans passed by with paltry looks or nods in their direction. Other's simply pushed passed them without further inclination. Blue was used to the behavior from some of the humans, but it didn't help the fact that his soul still fell whenever such conduct occurred. He managed to get over it quickly enough with the ideation that not all humans were like that, and change didn’t happen overnight. Not every human would come to completely trust and accept Monsterkind, thinking as such was arbitrary, even Blue knew. Still, he held out for those that had more redeeming qualities, like most of his coworkers at the clinic. The brunt of them he could even call friends, and the thought that even one Human could outstand the rest, made him want to be the one Monster that could, too. And he would. Like Papy had always said, once he set his mind to something, there was no stopping him. “I can’t wait to see Alvy tomorrow! I feel like I haven’t seen her in ages. I wish I could train with her like I used to, though.”

"Honestly bro, it's pretty hard to go on a 'walk' when you don't necessarily meet the requirements for one." Paps laughed idly. He was already getting tired just watching Blue boisterously bound down the sidewalk beside him. He smiled serenely at Blue's offer, moving his arms posthaste to keep up with the smaller skeleton's pace. "Nah, Blue. Don't worry about it. Girls will be flaunting over how ripped my muscles are gonna look after all this." He snorted as he saw his little brother run a hand over his face in aweless regale. He gave himself an overly exerted push in his chair to accentuate his next choice of words. "Oh, sorry bro. I'm just on a 'roll' today, huh?" He held back a laugh of his own as he watched the small Monster groan out an irate chuckle. As much as Blue always voiced his distaste at the half-baked jokes, Paps relished in the fact they made him laugh every time without fail. His little brother's laugh could cure all the misery in the world. He was sure of it. If only the world would listen. He eyed the cars rushing past on the street cautiously as they continued down the sidewalk. "I know you do, but I'm just glad that group she's part of made it so we don't have to wear those stupid braces anymore. At least we can all feel a little more free because of it." A week or so after the incident with Paps and Dr. Liri begging the city to allow her to make her clinic for both Monsters and Humans, an interesting movement had popped up. Alvrous had joined the small group of Monsters and Humans whose sole goal was to try and bring both kind closer without an impending feeling of inequality. Thus, they somehow urged a ban on the braces, and had instilled a law just forbidding the use of excessive magic unless given permission. Such as at the clinic, where Monsters could openly use healing magic without fear of prosecution. 

Oh dear Gods. Those insipid jokes were going to be the death of him. Still, through his mild annoyance, his smile never faltered, but rather grew ever wider. Blue noticed the way Papy would narrow his sockets as one or two cars would speed down the road. He, too, had become quite weary of them. Not the cars themselves, but the certain humans driving them. They were only a few minutes away from the clinic now, and he swayed the tote bag over his arm as he strolled along the elevated concrete with the taller skeleton. Blue remembered when Alvrous had claimed she'd joined an insurgent group. At first, he was worried of what it would entail for his large Lizard friend, but after they successfully found a way to reach through to the humans on how the braces were practically endangering and suppressing to their species, things really started changing towards the better. He, too, wished to join the group, but the Lizard Monster had told him to work towards his job at the facility first and foremost. "Same. I'm glad some things are turning around. Even if I can't practice my magic, it will still be fun to spend the day with her regardless."

Paps had been contemplating on asking a certain question, as he wasn't one to nose in his brother's business often. Firstly, because he didn't have a nose, but secondly, because his brother was allowed to have his own life and privacy. However, it was hard for him being the protective older brother he was, to deny that having Blue coming home late each night after work didn't unnerve him at least a little. Taking into consideration the fact that the little skeleton made it his objective to never fully explain as to why. "What have you been doing at work that's been keeping you so late anyhow? Not meaning to pry, but you never really go off about it like you usually would. I know you just started there, but I'm just a little curious is all." The squat white building was in view now as the two Monsters continued down the path.

Blue feared Papy could see the small twitch from his left eyelid at his question. He wasn't one to lie to his brother about anything, but he still felt it wasn't the right time to tell his brother about the red skeleton. He'd just been able to get Red, although scarcely, to trust him. He didn't want word of the other skeleton's actions from before somehow getting through to his brother, and ultimately having to end the friendship between the two before it even began. He vowed to tell his brother the truth in the future, but for now, he let his eyelights dart across the building as they came up to it. "Well, Dire has been asking me to stay back and help her with some tasks and paperwork in her office." Blue pushed a button beside the metal doors, letting them open on their own as the two brothers went into the building. "Plus, I've just been trying to get to know everyone and see where everything is to familiarize myself with it all." They took a left turn at the double elevators and came to a door with the imprinted black words 'Physical Therapy' over the clouded window within it. "So, really, it's nothing too exciting to delve into conversation with." He proffered a quiet laugh as he let his brother wheel himself into the room after opening the door, following close behind.

"Doesn't mean I don't want to hear about it. I like when you tell me about how your day is, too, you know? It shouldn't always be about me, bro." He didn't mind all the love and attention the younger gave him all the time, but Blue's own life was just as important to him as his own. Far more than his own, if he was being honest. His eyelights fell onto the figure of a short black-haired woman eyeing the two from across the room. "Oh hey, Jax. I'm hoping these sessions will be paying off real soon. I just can't 'stand' being in this chair." His eyesockets narrowed in amusement as Blue inhaled deeply through his nasal cavity at the joke. Might as well keep going. "It's getting to be a 'wheel' pain in my ass." Hearing a resounding smack of bone against bone beside him, he laughed aloud. "Nah. Seriously though, what are we doing today?"

Blue rubbed the back of his neck at the solemnity in his older brother's eyelights. "I know. I'm sorry, Papy. I'll be sure to tell you more often from now on. So much so, that you'll be begging me to stop telling you every little detail instead." He sneered at his brother, but his smile held an amiable integrity. This, however, turned into a grimace and a smack over his face at the morbidly chaste jokes Papy broke the weighty air between them with. "Ugh. Papy!" He turned to Dr. Liri, his eyelids half-lidded in nettled exasperation. "Hi, Jaxy."

"Well, you two seem to be in good spirits." Dr. Liri proffered once the two brother's quieted down. She stepped forward from her seat at the quaint little desk against the wall. "And you're early. Good thing you brought him here today, Blue. I don't know what I'm going to do about tomorrow, since Paps will be the one trusted to pretty much bring himself." She leaned forward, eyeing the taller skeleton as she berated him a foot's length away. "If you even decide to show up at all, that is." She leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest as she went to answer his inquiry on their plans for the day. "I'm hoping we can try and further the weight on your legs so it can progress to your full weight. Your body is already pretty lightweight and you've been able to stand for longer periods of time so far. You were doing really well last week with it, so I might even be able to suggest using crutches instead of the chair within the next two weeks or so. We'll see how well it goes during these two sessions before I make a final verdict on it though." She gestured for Blue to help her ease the taller skeleton onto the black treatment bed near the desk. Once Paps was seated, she began to slowly add pressure to each of his legs. "You've been working on your gait training? Like the straight leg raises I told you to do at home?"

Paps shrugged his shoulders as the doctor reprimanded him for his great escape last time. A few weeks back, once Blue had agreed to start visiting Alvrous every other Sunday, he was left in charge of making the journey to the clinic on his own after they'd left the apartment complex together. Yet, he'd decided to wheel himself elsewhere for the day. "Hey, come on. I just didn't feel like working myself 'to the bone' that day. I can afford to skip 'leg day' every once in a while, right?" He tittered under his breath at his baby brother's diverted huff. "Crutches sound good though. It's been tough getting this hunk of junk up and down the metal staircase at the complex. The owner's don't seem too keen on fixing the elevator anytime soon, either." His voice lowered in annoyance as he recounted the fight he nearly had with the two of them over the fact they didn't have the necessary equipment for handicapped beings in the complex. Thus, the introduction of the rickety aluminum ramps over the hefty metal stairs on the outside of the building were introduced instead. "And yeah, I've been keeping up with them. There isn't really much else to do in the house anyways." To further his statement, he raised each leg up off the bed after Jaxy pulled away, holding it in the air until he tired of it.

Blue shook his head condescendingly at his brother, as he, too, recollected the day he received a text from the doctor regarding the absence of his brother. He'd reprimanded the older Monster severely once he got home from Alvy's house later that day. "Don't worry, Jaxy. I'm going to ensure that he makes it here this time. I've made my plans with Alvy a bit later in the day so that I can walk with him here first." He gave a side-eyed glance at the ersatz hurt look Papy shot his direction. His eyelights then found themselves connecting to the clock on the desk for a moment. 2:19 p.m. His brother's therapy usually lasted about 3 to 4 hours or so. If he could try and break away now, he'd be able come back before Papy's session was completely over. "I have to head up to the third floor in a bit. I forgot to leave some paperwork in Dire's office yesterday, and there's some other things I need to finish up. Is that okay, Papy?" As much as he wanted to sneak off to see Red, if his brother requested him to stay instead, he would. 

"No, you can't afford to 'skip leg day', if you want to get better quickly enough. And thank you, Blue. That way I'm not wasting my entire day waiting for this lazy 'bag of bones' myself again." Dr. Liri watched as the taller skeleton lifted both his legs for an extended period of time with far more ease than last week. "But I'm glad you've been working on the stretching on your own. It seems it's really paying off." She nodded in genuine satisfaction at the orange Monster's display of growing strength. She squinted her eyes briefly in canvass at the smaller of the two skeletons. Paperwork? For Dire? She didn't recall Undihre mentioning she needed help with paperwork. Or having heard she assigned any to Blue. Jaxy tried her best to keep her employees as unstressed as possible regarding work like that. If she had overworked her Fish friend; she would have intervened and done something about it herself. Interesting.

He chuckled at the condescending tone in the doctor's voice as she regarded him as the lazybones he truly was. Smiling shiftlessly towards the smaller skeleton at his left, he nodded his head. "Sure thing, bro." Paps jabbed a thumb towards Jaxy at the other side of the bed beside him as he kept his eyelights trained on his brother's own. "I don't think Jax'll bite if you leave me here on my own." He snickered as he saw the doctor roll her eyes out of the corner of his socket, at the doltish claim. So that's why Blue had brought the tote bag. Made sense.

The blue skeleton leaned forward, wrapping his arms around the taller in a quick hug before bounding towards the entrance to the room. "Thanks, Papy! I'll be back soon!" Blue ushered himself out of the door before another word could be spoken from the two left behind.

Dr. Liri furrowed her brows, scrunching her face up as she watched the jovial little monster rush out of the room at breakneck speed. "I don't recall Undihre telling me she asked Blue to help with paperwork on top of what the kiddo was already dealing with. Having assigning him to a Patient like 73 is already a hassle in and of itself, you know?" She muttered out into the quietude surrounding the two suddenly dismissed beings. "I mean, it's no joke that Blue has made some serious progress with 73, better than any of us could have, and I'm grateful he's so willing to help the Monster with how troublesome he can be. Still, I wonder what Dire was thinking if she offered him more work on top of that. She could have asked me if she was running behind on anything." Jaxy added the last part with a hint of melancholy. She'd have to ask Dire about it during her shift tomorrow.

Paps's eyelights shrunk as his sockets fell to slits, now intensely eyeing the door his brother had just ran out of. "Patient 73, huh?" He bit his lower jaw as he rubbed his zygomatic arch inquisitively. He turned his head to face the doctor's quite confused visage at his outspoken dubiety. Well, so much for telling his big brother something so important. If Blue wasn't going to come right out and tell him just who this patient of his was, he had the perfect person right beside him who could. 

"Mind telling me what he's like?"

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Holy shit. The kid, if fucking possible, looked even better from this angle. He ran his claws over the smaller figures slender legs splayed open over his lower body, the tips of them dragging along the soft bone underneath. His back was pressed against the tiles as the blue Monster clenched and unclenched his own hands in Red's sweater, cyan eyelights blown wide in his sockets. A slow line of purple ran from his jaw down over his neck, slipping over the medial end of his collarbone and vanishing under the blue scrub top he still adorned. His clawed thumbs had trailed up, now digging themselves in between the crevice of the smaller's femoral heads and labrum on either side of the other's hips. A permanently lascivious smirk laid over his visage as the blue skelly continued to move his hips back and forth at a steady pace. The intrusion of his claws in the other Monster's labrum made him jerk, breaking the consistent pace as he pressed his pelvis harshly down onto the hard growing mass inside the larger's shorts. 'Ngh! Hah… Fuck yeah.' Fuck that felt good. Red's grip on the smaller's upper femurs tightened as his breath hitched at the change of thrust against his pulsing magic under the silky material of his shorts. 'You have no idea how fuckin' tight you're makin' these shorts on me right now, sweetheart.' His crimson eyelights trailed over the face of the other skeleton's blissfully lewd expression as he let out a high keen from the sudden pressure against him from Red's intrusive hands pushing him down. It was such a fucking good look on the pretty little angel grinding himself down onto him.

'Ah! W-Well-mhnn!..- Maybe you should l-let me help you-nghnn!- slip into something more comfortable, then?'

The larger's sockets widened as he watched the nimble fingers of the other Monster dig themselves into the waistband of his shorts, slowly slipping them down over his hips. His breath hitched as he grit his teeth from the way his cock swung out from the recesses of the dark fabric hitting the cold air, dripping red precum from the tip and smearing it over the carpals and metacarpals on the dauntless hand of the small skelly who ran it teasingly over the head of his throbbing magic. His eyelights darkened and a prominent flush took over his face as the blue skelly lifted his hips, displaying his own coalesced magic creating a soaking bright blue mound. He hovered his newly conjured sopping wet magic teasingly over the larger skeleton's leaking member. Such a fucking beautiful pussy. “Fucking hell, dollface…” Red breathed out, ending in a sharp gasp, as he felt the wet folds of the other’s magic slowly brush against the head of his cock. 

‘Stars, Red. Hah… You’re so big. I wonder if I can take it all.’

Red had to force himself to resist the urge to buck his hips up into the smaller Monster as the other began to lower himself over his aching length. He used the claws still digging into the smaller's lumbar as leverage in helping the little skelly stretch himself over the width of his dick. 'If not, I can always make it fit, angel.' His voice was gruff as the blue Monster's pussy fought against the intruding member slipping further inside of it. After a few haphazard attempts of Red trying to be gentle with easing the smaller downwards, he impatiently gripped the other Monster’s femurs tightly, to the point of bruising, and thrust himself in to the hilt. The tight surrounding heat that welcomed him was fucking incredible.

'AHN! S-So good-mhngh! Please, more! More,-'

"Red!"

Red's left eyelid twitched and he tightened his grip around his cock, his claws digging ever so lightly into the ecto-flesh as he tugged at it hard. The way the little angel yelled his name in his head sounded so fucking real. Holy shit. Either he was close to blacking out from cumming so many times, or his mind was indeed starting to make the scenes playing out in his head so much more realistic because of it instead. It was like Blue could have been right there in the room with him, that's how fucking genuine it sounded. And fuck, did it make him want to cum that much harder. He wanted to hear the skelly yell his name like that again. One more time should do it, now if he could just-

"Red?" Blue tapped his foot impatiently outside the door. After hearing a few muffled curse words through the door before even going to knock, he had decided to make his presence known immediately to the other. He had an inkling that something quite interesting would greet him if he were to open the door beforehand. He shuffled his feet together as he tapped the tips of his boots against one another. After a few more seconds, he piped up again, rubbing the back of his hand with his other sheepishly. "Hello?"

Oh fuck! No wonder it sounded so fucking real! Cause it fucking was! "Woah, is that you, Blue?" His hand twitched over his still conjured and, of course, hard as fuck organ in his hand. One could have sworn that the fact that Blue was standing right outside the door had made his cock stiffen back into a raging boner right when he’d just been near his peak. His cock spasmed in his hand as if telling him to avow that initial though. Okay. Who was he kidding? That fact totally made his dick hard all over again. He was even still stroking himself, although at a much slower pace now, knowing that Blue was there. Gods, he was such a fucking pig. "Sorry, but I'm kinda in the middle of somethin' at the moment." He really didn't want to stop. He was pretty sure he was going to drain his magic reserves from how much he'd released into his hand already, but the fact the one he was stroking himself to was right outside was such a fucking turn on. His breathing grew heavy as he trailed a clawed forefinger over his slick head, digging the pointed tip into the slit as his mind trailed to the idea of Blue walking in on him in such a position. "By all means, you can enter at your own risk though, babydoll. I won't mind." His voice was gravelly, breathy, and he ran his claws down over the length of his shaft again, as his hazy eyelights staring the door down. What kind of face would the little skelly make? Something cute as fuck no doubt. He felt his soul flare up beneath his sweater at his growing desire to see just what the blue angel's reaction would be. 

Good thing he had waited then, rather than barged in on something he was pretty sure wouldn’t be appropriate in the least. He huffed as Red offered for him to go in, but rolled his eyelights at the door still in his way. He wasn’t falling for that. Gosh, Red was so dirty. He practically knew he was just by his speech and sensual ministrations towards him, but if the larger Monster was doing what Blue believed him to be doing, well, this WAS Red he was inferring to here. Maybe he really shouldn’t be all that surprised. “Gosh. If you really are that busy, I guess I’ll just have to come and see you on Monday after all.” He exemplified his statement with the hint of a whiny timbre and an exaggerated sigh, twisting one foot behind him as he bounced in front of the door. That should work. That tone always worked with Papy, anyways. He wasn’t actually planning on leaving even if Red refused to at least somewhat make himself decent on the other side, but still. Might as well try.

How his dick didn’t manage to soften at Blue’s threat to leave before even actually coming in to see him, was fucking beyond him. His hand paused it’s unabating motions over his magic though, as his soul sank in his chest. Shit! He really wanted to fucking finish, but if Blue was gonna leave after showing up to see him on his day off- Fuck. It was Blue’s day off. And he was here, of all places. Waiting outside. And sounding really fucking hurt at the fact he might not get to see Red. Wait. He wanted to see him? No one had ever gone out of their way to actually interact with the red skeleton, especially if they could be doing literally anything else. Goddamnit. “Wait! I uh… I can just- I’ll just finish with this later.” He shoved his dick back into his shorts, reluctantly, the black fabric doing nothing in it’s meager attempt to veil the red glow coming from his now clothed ecto-organ. He swallowed hard as he forced his body to relax against the complete mess of a cot he was situated upon. “Alright, it’s all good now. Ya can come in.” His eyelights fixed on the door, darting over it in an antsy covet to see it open. His already deep red eyelights darkened further once the little skelly came into view. The smaller Monster adorned, what Red assumed, was his casual attire, but holy shit if it wasn’t helping his raging hard on. The blue skeleton donned frayed blue shorts that barely went down to his mid-femur with black socks that ended right under his patellae, bringing light to just how much Red’s image of them just moments ago in his head was nowhere near as good looking as the actual slender legs rubbing against one another in front of him now. "Fuck." The long-sleeved beige shirt was far too large for his frame, the bottom tucked laxly into his shorts as the top sat crookedly, giving a perfect view of his completely exposed right shoulder and upper humerus. Even the sleeves were so long that they dangled down over the delicate bones of the smaller's hands peeking out from them. "You really shouldn't be showing me that much bone right now, sunshine."

Having Red's eyelights trailing over him was slowly becoming a usual occurrence, but in an instant, he felt his cheekbones burn at how intense the other's gaze was on the bits of exposed bone he had fortuitously displayed. Fidgeting in front of the door, he rubbed his legs together shyly as he tapped the toe of his right boot against the floor behind him. His soul palpitated in a painfully pleasurable way against his rib cage. On top of the bright blue glow radiating from his face, he had immediately noticed an even brighter red glow surrounding the other skeleton's lower regions. So he must have been right about what Red was doing before. What an indecorous Monster. He let his eyelights follow up along the larger's inner seam, ending at a quite definitive tent in the black shorts, the red glow at its brightest underneath them. Oh stars. "I could say the same thing to you, big boy." His sockets narrowed for a moment before he tore his eyelights away from the glowing magic surrounding the bulged area, darting them over to the wall timidly. The magic staining his cheeks had darkened.

His soul thrummed in his chest as he saw the smaller Monster's gaze shyly travel over his lower regions. Seeing how Blue's eyelights remained glued to his clothed pelvis for a few seconds before harrowingly turning them away towards the wall instead, had Red coming, heh, to the conclusion that there was no possible way he would be able to prorogue his erection any time soon. Not that he was really planning on doing it anyhow. Especially if the little angel would continuously become flustered at just descrying his tumidity just a little. If he was any less inapt, he figured he would have whipped it back out by now. The fact that Blue might actually leave if he were to do so, was pretty much the only reason as to why he refrained from doing so. His laughter bounced off the white walls as he grinned sharply at the little skeleton’s remark. “Hahaha-holy shit! Aha-glad to know it caught your eye, sweetheart.” He let his upper body fall forward, resting his right elbow on his femur propping his face up in his hand with the other arm draping across his lap as his chuckling died down. It wasn’t like Red hadn't been giving himself a good day before, but having Blue here was somehow just exponentially making it better. Even if his dick was forced to remain pushing and chafing against the inner fabric of his shorts because of it. Speaking of which, why the hell was the kid here anyways? “Hey, now fuck me if I’m right, but you're supposed to be at your brother's therapy today, aintcha?" Sure, it was within the same building, but Red had figured if Blue’s brother needed therapy for one reason or another, he’d stay by his brother’s side like the sweet little saint he was. But he was here. With Red. Instead. He fervently squashed down the elated feeling the realization of this nonconsensually began to forge in his pounding soul. “Don't tell me ya just fuckin' ditched your bro to come and see me instead. Hell, if that idea doesn't fuckin' rub me better than I just rubbed myself." He relaxed himself into his hunched over position, his jaw pushing into his palm as his sockets narrowed, acutely watching the other Monster.

"Well, it's pretty difficult not to notice such an obvious tent accompanied by a vivid glow coming from it basking the entire room in red.” Blue huffed, his eyelights still tracing over some divits in the wall to his right, before he finally closed his sockets and sighed heavily out through his mouth. Finally he turned his gaze back to reconnect with Red’s outwardly slack disposition. A jocund smile crawled its way onto his face to replace the small mock sneer that he’d initially had. Adjusting himself into a more comfortable standing position, he crossed his arms daintily over his chest, leaning back against the door as he rolled his eyelights in his sockets. "And no, I didn't just 'ditch' him to come see you. I just figured that since I’m here and that we're friends now, I have more than enough reason to come and see you if I want to.” Blue tapped the fingers of his left hand over his crossed arms as he shuffled his right foot against the tile floor. He was glad Red seemed so gratified with his presence, even if he'd interrupted the larger skeleton in the midst of something quite… indecent. "I also won't be around tomorrow, so it kind of had to be today."

He was having a difficult time wrapping his head around the idea that Blue had come to see Red of his own accord. It seemed really laughable if he was being honest. But, the kid rarely ever showed signs of falsification on personal matters, no matter who they were from. "Huh. Is that right?" His eyelights amusedly observed the way the little skelly let his upper spine fall back to prop himself against the wall as he crossed his arms delicately over his sternum. He tapped his foot against the tiles beneath it as he kept his eyelights glued to the other Monster's position. "There's no need to keep standing so far away, angel. If ya still ain't up for my face, ya can always sit on my lap instead." His iniquitous smirk widened as his eyelights glistened with a roguish glint.

Blue pushed himself off from the wall, cocking his head to one side as he gave Red a stultified look. Of course. “Ah. Thanks, but no thanks.” He walked away from his position by the door, nearly sauntering towards the larger Monster who began to uncurl from himself on the cot as he came closer. Reaching out his hands, the sleeves of his shirt covering the majority of them, he let the tips of his fingers run gently over the other’s skull. His sparkling cyan eyelights bore into clouded red ones. He narrowed his sockets to slits as he breathed airily into Red’s face, bending down only a fraction to be level with the other still slightly hunched over in place. “I’m not really up for such a rough ride today. Sorry.” Instantly withdrawing his fingers, he straightened his posture once more, hopping up to sit upon the side table by the bed again. Gosh, it was fun to tease Red like that. He stifled his laughter by nimbly chewing on his lower jaw as he swung his hanging feet back and forth over the table’s edge.

Just as he began to lean into the smaller’s caressing fingers over his skull, he choked back a whine as they were swiftly pulled away. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth and he swallowed down the drool pooling within it from the intense stare of Blue’s scintillating eyelights. “Fuckin’ hell…” His erection convulsed hard in his shorts as he returned to his fully hunkered down position on the cot. His disposition took on an inquisitive front as he squinted his sockets, furrowing his browbones as he replaced his mandible into his upturned palm over his leg. He barely even knew the kid, yet he couldn’t deny he was fucking pretty as hell. He really knew how to carry himself, too. He’d even managed a new record masturbating just thinking of him, for fuck’s sake. All of these thoughts combined and he suddenly had a question swirling around in his skull that he decided he really wanted to know the answer to. “How old are ya?” He’d tilted his head as he trailed his eyelights up over the smaller Monster’s energetic frame propped up on the table.

Blue let loose a few giggles as he released his upper maxillary from his mandible, rocking back and forth tentatively on the wooden tabletop. He was genuinely surprised by Red’s question, but felt that it held hidden undertones as to why he would want to know such a thing. However, he wasn’t going to deny him one regardless, even if that were the case. “I turned 18 a almost 5 months ago now.” Although he felt as though he would regret asking, he slipped out a question of his own to add to it. “Why?”

Woah. Just in the clear of being legal. He felt more relieved at hearing Blue’s answer than he thought he’d need to be. Yeah, he was hitting on the kid every chance he got, but it wasn’t like they were actually doing anything. At least not taking into consideration the fact that Red had actually tried to force the skelly into not so consensual positions a few days before. Still, his soul thudded contentedly against his sternum at the other’s response. He grinned devilishly up into the other’s face from his nearly crouched deportment, letting his tongue slip out between two pointed teeth of his lower maxilla to greet the blue skeleton’s pondering eyelights. "Well, shit. It's just nice to know that my fap material is legal.” He let out a gruff laugh as he let himself fall back against the straggly material of the bed. Age wasn’t necessarily a contentious subject for Monsters, most Monsters followed their souls in finding a partner, whether at a the coming age of adulthood, 18, or sometimes even younger. Younger Monsters, however, were usually bound to wait to give consent to their partners until they were comfortable and at a reasonable age for anything pertaining intercourse or soul-bonding. Since Red was the literal scum of the Earth though, he barely took any age of another Monster into consideration. He doubted it would be any different had Blue claimed he was younger than 18 either. “Though, to be fair, even if ya were way younger than that, I doubt that'd stop me."

“You’re kidding!” He burst out at Red’s filthy declaration. He trusted that Red, well now anyways, wouldn’t push himself onto Blue so fiercely anymore. Although the larger skeleton continued his meager attempts at coming on to him through his vulgar speech and ministrations, Blue wasn’t really offended or turned away by it in any way. It was kind of flattering, in a probably twisted kind of way. Still, the idea that Red would continue to make a pass at him even at a far younger age was far from unseemly.

Red brought his clawed hands up out in front of him as he gesticulated ina placating motion towards the smaller skelly’s outburst. He laughed heftily, shaking his head. “Okay, okay. Maybe not THAT young. I ain’t talkin’ babybones, ya know?” He let his elbow on his right arm press against the plastic rail, letting his clawed fist on said arm push into his right cheek as he let his eyelights dart off to the side. “But come on, babydoll, do ya even know who you’re talkin’ to?” Red enjoyed seeing the smaller Monster unnerved by his antics a hell of alot. He could stand to take it up a notch. Really show the little angel how much of a freak he was. Hopefully, it wouldn’t scare him off. Nothing up to this point had, so there was some wishful thinking to be had there. “By the way, sugar: 20 times.” His eyelights snapped back to Blue’s countenance as he tilted his head smugly in retrousse towards the other.

Blue regained his composure for the most part, letting his legs dangle to and fro under the table as he rolled his eyelights. He found himself doing this so often between his brother and now Red that he was surprised they hadn’t inevitably rolled back into his skull at this point. “Oh right. How could I forget?” He tittered softly amongst Red’s own laughter filling the room. It was a nice sound. Gravelly and deep, as if protruding up from some extensive depths within his chest. His soul. He decided he liked hearing Red laugh, even if it was in turn somehow pointed towards his embarrassment at something the larger had said, or at one of his own vulgar jipes in and of itself. It made his own laughter bubble up from within, and his soul pulse gently. His face contorted into one of confusion at Red’s last statement. 20 times? 20 times what? “Wait, what?”

He let his head fall back as his sockets closed, sniggering under his breath. Of course the kid wouldn't get it. Ha. Made it all the better to explain it himself. "Oh, sorry. I meant that it's a new record for me." He peeked a socket open as he peered at Blue's still questioning glance, his own face growing ever more cock-sure as he let the far from proper words spill out in elucidation. "For how many times I came within 12 hours." Laughter bellowed up at the sight of the smaller skelly's eyelights shrinking as his sockets grew comically large. Cute. Still, there wasn't a sign of the smaller running off in disgust, so he continued. Like he obviously should, right? "You do wonders for a nasty mind like mine, dollface. I was about to hit another when your pretty little face showed up at my door." Red let his other socket open now, squinting out at the other Monster whose bright blush returned tenfold over his face.

Blue's face was burning as his eyelights remained frozen on the nonchalant Monster who just uttered the most precarious thing he'd ever heard like it was nothing. Still, he was less surprised than he was expecting himself to be. He was likely getting used to Red's antics and immodest speech. He couldn't decide if that was more of a good or a bad thing, yet. He offered his retort, his voice coming out as impassive as possible. "Wowzers. Really." His sockets returned to normal, as his eyelights slowly grew back into their more familiar shape from pinpricks. "I'm glad that just the thought of me could serve you so well, I guess." Well, he sure wasn't one to back down from something as deplorable as that. He leaned forward over the table, holding onto the edge with his left hand as he reached out with his other. "Wonder what the real thing could do." His fingers trailed over Red's protruding left patella, gently running up his femur towards the crinkled opening of his shorts. He stopped them right at the hem feeling the other monster freeze up, giving the larger a dark simper. "Don't you?" Before the other could utter a response, he pulled his hand back, returning to an upright position. His smile upturned at the corners as he swayed back and forth on the table again, humming jauntily. That should do it. 

"Hrk! Nnh..." Feeling the small fingers climbing up his leg, the magic pulsed where it still remained perpetually summoned at his groin. Red felt the creeping of his own blush forming over his cheekbones at Blue's coquettish smile. His soul thudded in dismay from the almost immediate absence of his digits trailing over his bones, however. Again. The kid just really liked to fucking toy with him, huh? Swallowing rigidly, he forced his body to untense. "Shit. Ya totally get off on this shit, don't ya?" 

Blue ceased his humming to cover his mouth as he chuckled beneath it at the red skeleton's broken composure. Good. "Hm? Oh, well, honestly? No. I don't think so." He shrugged at the assumption in question, thinking it over until he came to a riposte he was happy with. "Or, well, not really? I guess I do get a kick out of it, but it's not really 'getting off on it' so to speak." He laughed as he let his hand fall back to his side, his eyelights darting shyly off to the side. "I think it's just that I find a lot of your reactions really entertaining." Blue flushed darkly as he self-consciously tittered to himself.

So, Blue enjoyed seeing Red fucking lose himself over the other's little flirty ministrations. His ecto-organ strained against his shorts at the notion. So, he was right then. "Heh. Guess you are some kinda fuckin' sadist." His chest rose as he breathed heavily. Blue's eyelights finally caught sight of his own again. "That's fuckin' hot as hell." Well, if there was anything he was getting out of today, besides a never-ending boner, was more fap material to use on said boner later. His face scrunched up as he looked over the jaunt Monster moving to and fro. "Seriously though, not that I mind in the slightest since havin' the real thing here is far better than what my mind can put together, but why ARE ya here?" His eyes narrowed, eyelights stern as they remained focused on the smaller skeleton. "Like, really? Give me a real reason here."

"A real reason?" Blue tapped his mandible, opting to cross one of his legs over the other as he pondered it. Was there one? He just wanted to come see Red. Surprise him, really. "I mean, there isn't one, I suppose. I wasn't lying about what I said, Red. I just came because I wanted to." He clasped his hands together over his crossed legs, his eyelights finding a few scattered empty containers thrown off onto the side counter carelessly. A beguiled smile grew over his countenance. "Besides, I figured with that big mouth of yours, you probably would have eaten everything I made you already, too." He gestured to the mess covering the counter with a tender giggle. "Which I can see my prediction was correct in that regard." 

Red's twisted up features fell lax at the blue skeleton's rejoinder. He wanted to? Just to come and see him? His soul flew up into his throat, and he coughed to try and clear it. This was certainly something he wasn't accustomed to. Why the hell would Blue want to waste his time just to see Red when he'd be forced to see him Monday anyways? Since his mind couldn't wrap around such a risible postulation, he settled on doing the one thing he was good at. Ignoring how he felt towards it, and going to comment in a most proper Red way at Blue's acknowledgement of the mess over the counter instead. He sniggered, licking his golden tooth as the little skelly's eyes returned to him. "My mouth is a hell of a lot bigger than just what you're thinking of, darlin'. I could show ya all the different ways, if ya'd let me." Yeah. That was easier than trying to work through his muddled feelings. He lifted his clawed hands to pull at the sides of his mouth, opening it wide to accentuate, and letting his drooling tongue roll down over his mandible.

Blue sighed through his nasal cavity at the lecherous act of the larger skeleton, unclasping his hands and crossing them over his chest again. Red just never knew when to quit, did he. "Again, I'll have to pass. My brother's downstairs so I can't stay that long, remember?" He moved forward, placing his forefinger into the dripping red appendage, letting it slip down a ways as it pressed into the flesh. "Plus, you can always just think up some dirty image of me spreading my legs for you later anyways." He jerked his hand back, wiping off the drool from the digit onto his shorts. He sneered cockily at the other. "And I bet you will, won't you? Naughty boy." He tutted the larger in a playful tone. Placing his hands in his lap, one atop the other, he uncrossed his right leg over his left to recross them with their roles reversed.

Fuck, those fingers. They were literally driving him up a fucking wall. And, holy hell, they still tasted fucking phenomenal. He let his hands fall back from the sides of his mouth and crossed them over his abdomen lazily, his chest rising and falling as he sighed in repose. "That and a whole lot more. You have no idea." Slipping his tongue back into his maw, he went to then cross his arms behind his head, ogling the other's figure for the millionth time.

"Right." He huffed, shaking his head in sham admonishment. He tapped the fingers of his right hand against the back of his left as his eyelights fell to his lap. "Anyways, did you at least sleep a little last night? Not that I wouldn't find it flattering if I happened to occupy your thoughts the entirety of it, but it'd be nice to know that you actually managed to rest at least a little bit after I left yesterday." He chuckled softly as he brought his fidgeting hand up to rub the back of his neck meekly. His kept his voice low as he eyed Red for a moment before shutting his sockets and turning his head away. "I know you haven't been sleeping all that well. Undihre told me you looked exhausted yesterday, and the last couple of days I could see how sleep deprived you've been, too." They snapped back open, his eyelights gaze unfocused on the wall behind the larger Monster. "Sorry if it seems like I'm prying here. I just want you to try and get some needed rest, even if only a little."

He sniggered remissively at the blue skelly's derisory riposte towards Red's actions the previous night. Flattering? If anything, any normal being would call it gross and creepy. Yet, he was coming to understand that Blue wasn't exactly the definition of normal per se. Not that it was a bad thing. If he was, Red was pretty sure the smaller Monster would have booked it after their first encounter. He was glad he didn't. As much as he kept pushing that thought aside. "You find the fact that 'I' just came 20 times to the thought of you all through the night, fuckin' flatterin'? You're really somethin' else, sweetheart." Once he caught sight of Blue's unfocused eyelights cast to the wall behind him, and the subtle softness of his voice, Red felt his soul pound incessantly against his rib cage. The change in timbre to the skelly's tone, showcasing so much concern and care for someone like him, was enough to make his head spin. He sputtered out a few words of his own as his cocky smirk faltered a bit, trying to connect them in a somewhat comprehensible manner as the unabated sound of his soul beating invaded his skull. "Oh. Uh… Nah. Y-You're fine. Um... Well, I uh… Yeah. I-I got a few hours or so. I mean, I'm kinda used to not sleepin' too well regardless. So yeah..." It was true. As much as he tried to sleep even back at his apartment, it rarely did much. He still felt so exhausted afterwards. The occasional nightmares didn't help any either. Wanting to change the sudden quiet tenor of the room, he clicked his tongue to get the smaller's eyelights zoned in on him rather than the wall. His smirk returning full force once they met. "Might be able to sleep a lot better if an angel like you were to join me. What do ya say? How 'bout you surprise that brother o' yours by not goin' home tonight?" If that wouldn't be a wet dream come true. Ha.

He rolled his eyelights, again, at the red skeleton, tsking playfully as the familiar mollified air returned between them. Gosh, Red was so persistent. "As wonderful as that sounds, it's not going to happen, dirty boy. Especially not on that bed's unstable framework again." He exaggeratedly shuddered at the notion, sticking the tip of his tongue out at the other. Grabbing the tote bag still hung over his shoulder and placing it on his lap, he smiled widely at Red as he twisted the handle of it between his fingers. "On another note, I managed to actually make you something not breakfast related today! I was figuring you'd be getting bored of your meals consisting mostly of eggs by now." He'd managed to get his hands on some discounted meat at the market. After realising he had far too much extra meat to use for his taco filling, he'd used the rest to make something more plentiful for his red friend. "Plus, as good on protein as they are, they're not exactly a filling meal on their own. So, I hope you're not too picky on meat…"

Oh yeah. The kid made him food again. He shivered against the heat that surged up from his soul at the reminder. He laughed aloud, trying his absolute best to allay the crawling blush over his bones. "I've been hopin' the same thing from you, sunshine." Eating something actually substantial was more or less just about as rare as Red getting a decent amount of sleep. Or any at all, really. So just the fact Blue kept going out of his way to make him something sent his soul soaring. "Also, ya don't gotta worry 'bout me gettin' bored of any one food group. Your food is better than anythin' I've had in a fuckin' long while. Even if it has just been eggs or whatever." Everything Blue had made had tasted fucking exquisite anyways. And who was he to complain about free food? "I'm far from picky. We barely had enough food as it was when Boss and I were still in our part of the Underground. Honestly, it hasn't changed that much since we fuckin' got up here either." He didn't mind coming out about his pitiable home life with Blue. The little skelly was far from judgemental, as much as he could discern, and he found it was easy to let the words just fall out around him. Anyone else though, and he probably would have made sure they'd never walk again.

"Well, lucky for you, I like all kinds of meat." He licked from the top of his metacarpal up and nibbled the tip of his finger, pressing the tip of his tongue against it before quickly covering his mouth to stifle his laughter at the larger’s increasingly flushed face. It died down as he mused over how Red explained that his everyday life happened to consist of him constantly scavenging for victuals amongst other things. Red barely got enough sleep, and now that he was hearing how he may even be getting even less subsistence, it made his soul sting. Well, he'd just make sure the larger Monster had more than enough to eat while he was around. "Hm. I guess that just means I'll have to make sure you're well fed while you're here then. I love to cook, so I don't mind making extra to bring from home for you." Blue wasn't quite fond of the fact that once the larger Monster would ultimately leave the clinic, he wouldn't be able to ensure his nutriment. Or his safety. "Maybe even once you're set to go home, we could keep in contact even then. I'd really dislike the fact that a friend of mine could be surviving on little to no sustenance whatsoever. That way I can make sure you're always full and satisfied!" They were friends now, so he had wondered if outside of work whether Red would be willing to try and keep the relationship going as well. He had stopped by today in order to try and indicate that he indeed wanted it to. "That's if you'd still want to even keep in touch with me." He added abjectly. Blue enjoyed talking with Red, even through his less than felicitous subjects of conversation. They were funny, for the most part, and he knew there was more to the red skeleton than most were willing to disinter. But Blue was more than willing. He was hoping Red would be the same towards him.

Was the kid a fucking virgin or what? Cause he certainly didn't fucking act like one. Regardless of the answer, Red adjudged that he would much rather find out by his own means. "Fuck…" He cursed under his breath, growling lowly as his eyelights followed his tongue trailing up along the smaller's forefinger, until it joined along with the rest of his fingers covering his mouth while he laughed. His cheeks flared a deep crimson, and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to erase any drool that may have began to dribble out the corners of it. Swallowing the the rest pooling in his mouth, he adjusted himself on the bed again. Fuck, his erection hurt like hell, but then again, it wasn't as if he wasn't secretly enjoying the sting everytime it painfully grazed against the fabric of his shorts. His sockets falling half-lidded, he gave a languid toothy grin towards the smaller Monster. "Well, not to mention, there's a whole lot of different ways you could keep me more than satisfied, sunshine." His brow quirked at the others request to remain in contact, and his soul flipped hard against his sternum. "Ya really don't have to do that, but hell yeah. If ya want to." Ugh. He sure as hell wasn't ready to leave this fucking prison to more or less go back to another one. A piece of him was wondering how his younger brother was doing, but it was squashed under the rest evidently not caring in the slightest. Fuck Boss. Fuck him. "Don't get me wrong. I fuckin' hate this place, but I also ain't lookin' forward to seein' my pompous ass of a brother any time soon either. So if I'm honest, this place is kinda the better of two evils. At least with your pretty face to keep me company, anyways. Makes it a little more bearable." He sniggered, winking as he pulled at the hem of his shorts to relieve a bit of the pressure building under them. Once comfortable enough, he cleared his throat, tapping a claw from his right against the plastic of the cot while the other draped over his chest. His smirk wavered as the next few nonplussed words rumbled up from his throat. "Speakin' on that… Uh… Thanks for comin' to see me. Ya didn't have to... So it's cool of ya. I guess."

Blue let his face fall into his hand as he blushed brightly, the magic over his bones burning into his palm as he overlooked Red sloppily clear his face of drool. Letting his hand drop, he rolled his eyes at the larger's offer pertaining his idea of 'satisfaction'. "Oh wowzers. Is that so? Incredible. Really." He shook his head as he sighed, a few airy laughs spilling through. He felt relieved that Red didn't mind the idea of the continued contiguity between them. He rocked his hips on the tabletop as Red claimed he was the reason he didn't find being stuck in the clinic as bad as before. "And in that case, I can keep you company outside of here, too, then!" He smiled towards the other, casting his eyelights up towards the ceiling sheepishly for a brief second as the larger fixed his shorts in front of him. "You don't have to thank me, Red. We're friends! I can come and see you if I want to! Plus, I'd like to get to know you more, even outside of work. And I mean on a more friendly level, not so much an intimate one." He brought his gaze back down, teetering back on the table as he gripped onto his left patella to keep balance. Sticking his tongue out, he giggled softly as he pressed the tip of his forefinger on his right hand into his cheekbone in a cutesy fashion. "For now at least." Blue winked charmingly, before dropping his right hand down to take hold of his other patella as he laughed without reservation at his teasing of the other Monster.

Fucking Gods, how was the blue skelly so fucking cute? He uttered a few deep laughs of his own in along with Blue's tumultuous laughter from his cheeky little flirtatious show. His laughter was really fucking addicting. Made his soul hum in a pleasurable way that he couldn't find the will to fight against. Or didn't want to, rather. "Damn. If you're gonna keep sayin' stuff like that, I best ride through this 'friendly' stuff till we make it to where you'll be willin' to ride me instead." Shit. That sounded fucking heavenly right now. His cock twitched in his pants and he pressed his spine further into the thin mattress behind him. Sneering at the smaller skeleton as he watched him continue to rock on the table adjacent to him, Red crossed his arms behind his head once more. He barked out a few harsh laughs at his own incredulity in the prior statement. Drawing his tongue over his sharp upper maxillary as he let his eyelights darken. "Pretty sure I've been failin' pretty hard on the 'friendly level' spectrum already, huh?" Not that he was going to change his advances towards the little angel any time soon. Blue wasn't backing down from him, so why not push onward. Maybe with a little more effort he'd be finding himself pushing inward instead. He really was just fucking shameless scum, wasn't he?

They were really going to just roll into the back of his skull at this point and never return. He was sure of it. Blue had rolled his eyelights, for what seemed like the hundredth time, at the red skeleton's sordid declaration, but managed to smile sweetly through it nonetheless. "Maybe failing just a little, yeah." He proffered sarcastically, sitting upright as he tapped his fingers against both patellae in an attempt to stop himself from energetically rocking atop the wood again. It was starting to hurt his tailbone. He squinted his sockets as his gaze fell unfocused on the broken stool in the far corner. "I was meaning to ask you, and this probably sounds really dense, but do you like star-gazing?" His broad smile weakened as his voice lost it's boisterous tone, resorting to a more warily reserved timbre. He had been wanting to offer the larger Monster a chance to go out at night, but knew there would be no possibility of him going out on his own unless Blue was with him. "Once we made it to the Surface, my friends, and my brother and I would always go to this really discreet area by our apartment to watch them at night. I find them so beautiful. There's supposed to be a meteor shower sometime next week, too. I'll have to check the day again, but since I know that you're kinda stuck in here at the moment, I was thinking that maybe, if I can convince my brother it'll be fine, I could even stay later one of my shifts and we could go out to the courtyard to watch it." What was he even saying? Red was bound to find the entire notion childish, if anything. He felt his soul beginning to thud harrowingly in his chest as his eyelights shrunk. "Aheh. Oh gosh, that sounds really silly, doesn't it?" His soul had practically dropped into his boots at that point, and his fingers clung onto his patellae for dear life as he nearly curled in on himself barely muttering the last few words.

Red wouldn't deny that the smaller skeleton somehow managed to look like a fucking snack nearly all the damn time, but how the skelly's cheery demeanor dropped so suddenly had the larger Monster reeling. He hated it. Almost as much as that broken laugh that came with it. Maybe even more. Although his soul was aching at the execrable change in disposition the other displayed, it burned against his bones at what the blue skelly had offered. The stars, huh? Gods, when was the last time he actually took the time to look at them? Right when his brother and himself first got to the Surface, yeah, but since then, everything had been going right back into the shitter. Red hadn't even thought about them, let alone cared, as he found himself struggling through life here with Boss almost as much as in his Underground. He… He missed watching them. "Um… No. Actually, that sounds really.. Uh… cool. I like the stars a lot, too. Honestly, it's probably the only thing this shit stain of a Surface even has goin' for it. Fuckin' everythin' else is literal shit up here." The fact that the sweet angel was the one who offered it, no less, made it all the better. He grunted as he cleared his throat, his soul finding its way up to lodge itself within it again as he spoke. "So, yeah. I'd uh… Yeah. I'd like that."

Blue's eyelights grew wide as his soul soared right back up into his chest. Red liked the stars, too! It also sounded as though he detested the Surface almost as much as Papy did. He was ecstatic, however, and his own eyelights sparkled with small stars of their own as he practically vibrated through his elation. He chuckled as his eyelights met the larger's indistinct gaze. "My brother says the same thing. Aheh… But I’m so glad! I'll have to make sure I put on my best puppy-dog-eyes for Papy. He'll never be able to say no to me then!" He boasted pridefully, his chest puffing out as he kicked his legs under the table with a hundred times more vigor. Oh gosh! He nearly forgot! He pulled the tote bag back into his lap from where it had slid to his side, opening it and taking out a large metal container. He held it out to Red, his smile beaming. "Oh! Um… Here!" Once the larger had taken it into his claws, Blue scritched the bridge of his nasal cavity awkwardly, tittering gingerly. "I didn't know what condiments you liked, so I kind of put a little of everything? Nothing that wouldn't work well together, but yeah… Sorry if that bothers you…"

"I fuckin' bet." He doubted anyone could say no to the kid if he somehow managed to force himself to look even cuter than he already did. Red already found it difficult just with Blue normally. His growing attraction towards the smaller Monster aside. Wait. He called his older brother 'Papy'? That was fucking adorable as fuck. It established an interesting covet to have the smaller skelly refer to him with such a fond nickname. Red barely had a moral compass left, if any, so what's incest to add to the list of heinous shit he wouldn't mind? At least if the blue godsend was his little brother instead. His soul panged as he thought of how Blue would refer to him as 'Big Brother', feeling it glowing brightly under his sweater as he imagined the smaller squirming underneath him calling him as such. Could work even if they weren't related, like some kind of roleplay, but it wouldn't quite work as well since the little skeleton already had a big brother. Maybe 'Daddy'? It was a bit mainstream in bedroom roleplay but as the larger pictured the blue Monster flush and panting as he gasped it out in that sweet mellifluous voice of his, Red shuddered. Oh yeah. Yeah, that could work. He shook the thought aside, for the time being, as he took the hefty container into his claws, tearing the lid off of it and immediately beginning to salivate at its contents. "Holy shit. You really know the way to my soul, dontcha, angel?" He took the still somehow warm burger out from its resting place and into one hand, his eyelights glued to the dripping mass of meat and condiments. It looked fucking delicious. His eyelights managed to tear away from it to meet Blue's timid countenance. "Literally anything drenched in mustard is beyond perfect for me, but this looks like food for fuckin' Gods. I haven't had a burger that looked this fuckin' good in forever. Let alone edible. Or safe." Last time he'd tried to eat something even remotely resembling palatable, he'd found it was poisoned. He had to fight tooth and nail, almost offing the guy, for the counteragent. Red took no time in shoving a large portion of the burger into his gaping jaws, wiping the condiments from his mandible as he swallowed. If his eyelights were as visually ornate as the blue skelly's were, he was sure they'd resemble little fucking hearts. In two more bites, the entire thing was gone, and he licked the tips of his claws clean of the remaining grease and sauces. "Ahh yeah. That's the shit. Why the fuck are ya here if you're this talented in making anythin' taste fuckin' heavenly?" The kid really had a knack for this shit. He could probably be a fucking 5-star chef somewhere by now if he wanted.

Before he even had a chance to blink, the whole sandwich was gone. His eyelights were blown wide in stupefaction at how fast the larger had just inhaled the entirety of it right in front of him. He blinked his sockets a few times to shake off the bewilderment, finally letting himself zone in on Red's voice praising the repast. "Oh! Oh gosh…! I-I um… Thank you!" He stuttered in between bashful chuckles as he felt his magic flare up over his face again. Papy had also been one to proffer the idea of Blue working towards a culinary career up on the Surface instead, but he'd been set on working at the clinic after the accident. He just didn't feel as though he would be happy having to cook all day every day. At least here he was given the chance to help others and get to know new faces. And that was something worth working for, at least for him. Still, the fact Red found his jumble of leftover ingredients so delicious, made his soul swell with insurmountable pride. "Cooking is just more of a side hobby of mine really, so um… Aheh. I just happened to have some leftover meat and various ingredients and figured you might like it. It makes me really happy you think so highly of it!" He pressed the tips of his forefingers together as he dropped his mandible to jugular notch. He failed to notice the way the larger Monster's eyelights darted over his slightly curled in frame, as his own remained glued to the tables edge in his periphery. The thumping sound of his soul reverberated through his skull as a few moments of silence passed between the two. Blue chewed on his lower jaw, before finally asking something he'd been ruminating over for a while. "Um… Hey, Red? Not to interject on your personal matters, but why do you feel so much animosity towards your brother? I mean, my own can really get on my nerves sometimes, but never to the point of where I could stay mad at him for too long." His hands had clasped together over his lap again as he forced himself to look towards the other skeleton. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, by the way. I know from your reactions, he tends to sound like a bit of a sore subject for you." He really didn't want to ruin their conversation with something that could fundamentally put Red in a bad mood. He was just curious. And perhaps a bit concerned. Okay, very concerned. The other Monster already had what sounded like a treacherous home life, and Blue couldn't help but be worried if this 'Boss' of a brother happened to add to it at all. The bottom of his jaw hit his chest again, the fingers of his left hand playing with a corner of the tabletop as he eyed it crestfallen.

Just a hobby? And the kid could cook like that? And with leftovers nonetheless? Holy shit. If Red himself was half as talented in his own hobbies, he'd probably be set for fucking life. But, he certainly wasn't planning on becoming a prostitute any time soon, though. That's for fucking sure. Was there something out there for sleeping like the dead? He certainly was very good at that, at least when his own head and the nightmares would leave him the fuck alone. His jaw, that had been hanging open, snapped shut as Blue asked about his brother. Tch. Get on his nerves? Oh that was a fucking understatement for sure. The skelly was right. Boss was one hell of a sore subject. Especially right now since he was actually fucking enjoying himself for once in this hellhole. "Yeah. And a sore pain in my ass, too. Honestly, I'd rather not have talk of him disrupting my nice evenin' with ya, if ya don't mind. Sorry, babydoll." Red leaned forward, one hand resting on his femur as he reached a claw from his opposite hand and placing it under the other's mandible that had fallen against the top of his sternum. Lifting the little Monster's face up to meet his own, his signature sharp grin overtook the grimace that had developed from his musing over his asshole brother. Blue looked much better when his gaze was trained on him, rather than the table he was sitting on. Fucking table. He'd love to be in it's position right now. Feeling the little skelly moving about so much that the angel would practically be vibrating on his dick. Fuck. He inched his face closer to the smaller Monster's, the virtually empty container clattering noisily to the floor. "I'd much rather talk about you, anyhow. I mean, if ya really want to be meetin' my family already, there's quite a few things I'd like to do with ya beforehand."

Blue was pleased with the fact that Red happened to let the subject of this 'Boss' go so easily. A small smile plastered itself over his face. "It's no problem, Red!" He pressed the hand that had been tracing the table's corner in between himself and the encroaching face of the larger Monster. Closing his sockets, he drew out a short breath as he pressed the tips of his fingers just below the red skeleton's lower maxillary, preventing him from leaning any closer. "Oh yes, I'm sure there are plenty of things you would like to do to me. I'm also pretty sure you're probably very good at all of them." His sockets opened, only slightly, as he stuck his tongue out playfully. "But I'm even more sure, that no, it's still not happening." He sneered, giggling softly as he raised his other hand to assist in pushing Red's form back fully onto the bed after hopping off the table. He hunkered down to retrieve the fallen container, clasping it's lid back into place and replacing it back into his bag. His eyelights wandering up the wall he'd had his back to, reaching the clock hanging up high. 6:50 p.m. "Oh stars! It's gotten real late!" He was surprised he hadn't gotten a message from Papy yet. Perhaps therapy happened to be going on longer than usual? Still, he knew his brother was likely worried of his whereabouts after being gone for nearly 5 hours. That, and probably having increasing reservations as to why as well. He turned back towards the larger Monster, shoving the tote bag back up over his scapula in a hurry. "I'm so sorry to cut things short with you again, but I have to head back down before my brother gets suspicious. Or, at least, any MORE suspicious than he probably already is." His eyelights continued to dart back and forth between the lazing Monster before him, and the clock ticking on up on the wall. Again, he was leaving so abruptly. And of course it would have to be after he'd gotten to finally have a more decent, more or less, conversation with Red, too!

"Dammit. Ah well. Still got my dirty mind and hands to help me work through 'em instead." He replied languidly, more to himself than to the smaller Monster before him. Blue was really on top of shooting him down all the time, but after feeling the smaller's delicate little hands pressing him into the flimsy mattress behind him, he found it hard to complain. His own eyelights fell over to the left, eyeing the time with the grandest death glare he could summon whilst still trying to mollify his throbbing boner. After a few good seconds of his measly attempt at trying to burn the clock with his stare, Red turned back to the blue skelly practically tripping over himself as he hurried to try and leave. "Nah. No worries, dollface." His soul returned to its newfound place of irritation for Red, lodged in his throat, and he swallowed as he scratched at the beginning of his scar over his frontal lobe. "Uh… Thanks, again. For… Well… Ya know. I still don't really get why'd ya go outta your way to come and see me when ya gonna be forced to see my ugly mug Monday anyways, but yeah… It was… Cool." He ignored, and successfully squashed down, the disappointment that was planning to spill out into the words at the thought of Blue leaving him again. Goddamnit. He really had to get his shit together.

Blue teetered on the balls of his feet as the other Monster adamantly thanked him again. Red was so silly. He'd already told larger Monster that he'd come of his own accord. Still, the small self-inflicting insults filtered through the speech were more than enough to get him riled up about it. His simper grew broader, and even more genuine as his eyelights flickered tenderly. "You really don't have to thank me for doing something I wanted to do. Contrary to what you may believe, I actually do like talking with you. Even through all your vulgar nonsense sometimes. And you're not 'ugly', so stop that. I find your fierce features rather appealing. And unique! They're what make you, you, after all!" He toyed with the opening of the tote bag at his hip, swaying ever so slightly as his eyelights fell meekly to his boots. "I actually wish I could come tomorrow, too, but I'll be away to see my friend Alvrous. It's been quite a while since her and I have been able to get some time off together. So, sorry…" Immediately after, he leaned forward, wrapping the red skeleton in as close to a big hug as he could instigate with the other's reclined position. He pulled back, his arms still grasping the other's form as best as possible, his eyes shimmering as he beamed in the other's face. "But, you'll practically have me all day Monday! So you can look forward to that!" Breathing out a few giggles, he pulled back, making his way to the door. Turning his head towards Red one more time, he puffed his chest out, placing one hand on his hip as the other gripped the handle. His smile refused to waver.

His brow bones furrowed, creating distinct marks between them on his forehead as he looked over Blue's radiating figure. His mouth falling agape as the skelly prattled on about his grossly sharp features. Appealing? Unique? Those were two defining words he would have never thought to associate with himself. Couldn't associate with himself. Yeah, they were what made him, him, all right. An unsightly and loutish waste of fucking space. However, hearing the blue skeleton label him with such pleasant terms, ignited his soul to the point of nearly bursting into flames. The glow radiated up his neck, connecting with the blush that formed over his face at the kind declaration. Huh. He'd heard that name before. Hadn't he? Alvrous. Sounded pretty fucking familiar for some reason. Although, the only thing he could think of pertaining this said friend of Blue's, was that he wished he could be her instead tomorrow. Even feeling that his bones were beginning to grow feverishly hot, once the blue skelly wrapped him up into a sweet embrace again, the heat melding between them had Red wanting the smaller of the two to fucking remain there forever. Yet, he held himself back from returning the hug besides from leaning into it a bit like before. He chuckled dryly at Blue's exclamation of seeing him Monday, and Red wished he could fucking time travel so he wouldn't have to wait for it to come on its own. This time he didn't even try to deny how his soul was yearning; looking forward to seeing the skelly again. "Yeah…" He watched as Blue turned the handle, letting himself out, but not before the little Monster turned, standing in the doorway with that blindingly pearly white smile of his.

Blue was buzzing. His entire body tingled with how well the evening had gone. The friendship was already developing so well between them, and he couldn't wait to see the larger skeleton again. He offered a small wave towards the slumped Monster, his smile ever widening as one was returned to him as well. "Have a good night, Red!" He nearly sang as he went to gently ease the door shut.

"Night, Blue…" He muttered towards the still opened sliver of the doorway, until it shut completely in front of him. His eyelights glanced at the still, mockingly, hanging clock up high on the wall. How many hours away was Monday exactly? Red was so fucking tired suddenly, but he doubted he was going to be able to sleep again tonight.

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He hummed as the double doors of the elevator slowly slid open, inviting him in. As he stepped inside he distractedly pulled at the strap of the tote bag over his chest, running his fingertips along the textured material. The day had gone so much better than he'd expected! Plus, he was going to hang out with Alvy all day tomorrow, and then he had work again on Monday! Red had even agreed to remain in contact with him once he was able to return home. His soul thumped energetically under his sternum as he tapped his toes against the insole within his boots. Once he got home with Papy, he'd make sure to get dinner started, tear off that gross orange sweater and khakis the taller skeleton was wearing because he just KNEW they hadn't had been cleaned in days, throw them in the wash and head right to bed. Gosh, he was so excited! He sighed audibly through his nasal cavity as the elevator dinged, implying he'd made it to the first floor, when suddenly he felt a vibration against his hip. Briskly stepping out of the elevator, he pulled his phone from the confines of his short's pockets, and nearly dropped it onto the tile floor. It was a message. From his brother. The basis of which he was finding himself to be exceedingly less and less fond of as his eyelights darted over the screen. 'hey, bro. sure is taking you a while with all that paperwork, huh? so, when were you planning on telling me about this so called patient of yours? seems like a pretty big deal to keep hidden from your big bro. i think we should talk about it in the morning before you leave tomorrow. i'd appreciate some more details from the source rather than having to dig up the information myself. by the way, i'm all set down here. see you soon.' Blue's soul fell into his boots.

Well, it seemed like tomorrow was already looking to be quite a long day.

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Why the fuck did he keep doing that? Like, what the actual fuck was wrong with him? He had no qualms in boasting and outrightly saying how much he wanted to touch the little skelly all the damn time now. Hell, right when they'd first met he placed his hands on him like it was fucking nothing. Yet, whenever the blue skeleton wrapped those warm slender arms of his around his own broader frame, he suddenly couldn't find it in himself to fucking do anything about it. Why in the hell did he resist the hugs the other kept offering him? He should be all for the smaller Monster touching him. His magic was still strained against his boxers, but the ache in his soul had him not even batting an eyelid towards it. Gods, he was really starting to fucking hate how he couldn't make up his own damn mind. His eyelights darted to the clock again. Not even 10 minutes had gone by yet. For fuck's sake.

It seemed tomorrow was going to be one hell of a long day.


End file.
